Transportation in Azerbaijan

Hello ladies and germs, Jesse here! I’ve been thinking for a while of doing a series of editorial posts on general life here in Azerbaijan. I will present a wide-range of incredibly interesting topics and if nothing else good reading to put you to sleep. So far I’ve come up with: "The Bazaar: Can you REALLY get cheaper tomatoes at the next booth?" and "Electricity and You: How to stay safe when working with bare wires." I have big plans for those topics, but those will have to wait because you are currently reading the first in a series I like to call:

"Transportation in Azerbaijan: Wow, That Was Close!"

I suppose I should start off with a brief explanation of Azeri Money. The basis of the monetary system is the Manat. A Manat is composed of 100 gapik, much like the US system of the Dollar and Cent. At my local exchange hut here in Mingechevir the Manat is currently trading at 1 Dollar = .846 Manat, thus making it slightly more valuable than the Dollar. For all intents and purposes, though, I usually round up to a one-to-one exchange rate. Now, on with the post.

The main form of transportation within cities is on foot. Pedestrians do not have the same privileges afforded to them in the States, nor are they subject to the same restrictive regulations of America. This means that while there are crosswalks painted on the roads, traffic in no way recognizes the existence of them. On the other hand you are free to cross the street wherever and whenever you see fit, no matter if it is in the middle of a block, on a red light or diagonal through an intersection with a roundabout full of traffic from construction and a police stop. Although dodging traffic can sometimes be a nerve-racking experience, nothing scares me more than an empty intersection. I just stand there wondering "Okay, where are you gonna come from, you sneaky taxi?" Crossing the street can most often be equated to a game of "Frogger," wherein unless you are extremely old, young or police it is best to stop and let the car determine where it wants to go and then make your next move.

If you have a ways to go within the city or wish to travel to another city the preferred method is by minibus or "Marshrutka". These are usually the size of a full-size van and have seats for 15 passengers. In-town a ride costs 20 gapik and longer trips vary according to distance (to Mingechevir from Baku it’s 5 Manat). Not only are these usually the cheapest/faster option, but also the most likely to give you good stories for when you go home. Few marshrutkas run in the early morning and evening, so whether it is a courtesy or sheer greed, the driver puts every passenger he physically can into the automobile. I have consistently been on marshrutkas with 18-20 passengers (3-5 standing hunched in the aisles) and once topped out with 27 passengers (wait, who’s hand is that?). For all its seemingly random behaviors, there are a few set rules to riding in the marshrutka. If a man is sitting and a woman gets on the bus and there isn’t a seat for her, you must give her your seat. This is, of course, if you are not sitting in the front of the bus or in the back with all men. Women have been spotted in the back of marshrutkas before, when a group of them take over and oust the men, however a woman in the front is olmaz (never, ever). Marshrutkas are frequent to break down, have a flat tire or be lacking windows.

They also drive almost constantly (since they only make money when they are driving) and I was in a relatively new marshrutka yesterday that had 450,000 Kilometers (279,000 Miles) on it!

Taxis also abound in every city, no matter its size. It is without a doubt the best way to travel in terms of comfort and speed, however they tend to be a bit expensive. In Mingechevir it is 1 Manat for anywhere on one side of the river and 2 Manat if you cross the river. Baku taxis start at 4 Manat and go up from there. A taxi from Baku to Mingechevir runs a spendy 40 Manat, but you can buy just a seat for 10 (although for a 5 hour trip, this is low by American standards). Other than that it’s pretty much the same as U.S. taxis. Try to figure out what language the driver is speaking, tell him you don’t speak Russian, wonder if he really needs to answer that text message while he’s lighting a cigarette and passing a truck at the same time.

In terms of personal automobiles there seem to be three choices: Mercedes, BMW or the Russian-made Lada. By far the majority of cars you will see on the road are Ladas or some derivative thereof (sedan, stationwagon, 4x4 and traditional). Ladas are legendary in Azerbaijan as being an all-around miraculous automobile. Not only are they capable of breathtaking speed, cat-like agility and all-terrain driving but also are able to move an entire dining room set, complete with 6 chairs, table and hutch, in one trip. You can take a Lada up a mountain side, through a creek or just drag race it on the beach if the feeling strikes you. All of the Ladas I have ridden in have seat belts installed in the front (although with nowhere to buckle them in) and are completely void of the restraints in back. Seating for 5, including driver, although I have heard legends of miserly PCVs fitting 7 in a single car. These cars cost about 3,000 Manat new, while the Mercedes and BMWs seem to cost roughly what they would run in the States.

Unfortunately for us, Peace Corps does not allow us to drive a car or ride on a motorcycle during service, which from the looks of traffic so far is an exceptional idea.

That brings me to motorcycles. While they are far and few between, they always are interesting. From what I have seen there are two different styles of motorcycles. Those that are straight out of WWII (sidecar and all), and those that are used for more utilitarian purposes. These "working" motorcycles are more like three-wheelers with a large covered space in the back for trucking stuff around. They carry anything from building supplies and oil to cabbage and hundreds of loaves of bread.

Oh yes, and the horns. Every vehicle here is equipped with two horns. One normal, like you would hear on any car around the world, and one special horn. The normal horn is used for expressing things such as "Hey, don’t forget to look before crossing the street" or "I am passing you, please don’t run into me!" The second horn usually sounds like a ambulance or air-raid siren or even like those toys we used to have as kids that would make the fake missile shooting sounds. This horn may be used for the same things as the normal horn or for more elaborate discussions such as: "Would you like me to stop and pick you up?" or "Hello brother, are you going to be at the tea house tonight?" or "What do you think of the tense geo-political situation in southern Turkey?" You can hear these types of conversations late into the night, cars chatting away.

There are also trains that run throughout the country, although mostly on a Rayon to Baku route. Fares generally run 1-2 manat less than marshrutkas, but take 1-2 hours longer. For example, the train from Mingechevir (which also runs through Yevlax, Ujar, and Kurdimir) to Baku takes roughly 7 hours while a marshrutka takes around 5 hours. There are several night trains that run to communities throughout the country that leave about 9 PM and arrive in Baku about 6 AM. This is slow going, but you can get a sleeper car and from what I hear it’s pretty comfortable. Mingechevir touts one of the most comfortable trains in the country, it’s electric (so there’s no smoke and it’s relatively quiet), it has air conditioning and they even serve tea! How nice is that?

Other forms of travel include planes and boats. The boats run from Baku to Turkmenistan and Kazakstan and I’ve never heard of anyone taking these boats (especially because Peace Corps doesn’t allow us to ride on motorized vehicles on inland waters). Planes fly regularly out of Baku and have a few major airlines operating out of it (British Air and Turkish Air), along with some smaller national and discount airlines (AZAL and Baltic Air). Aside from Baku, there is an airport in Ganja, out of which flies (from what I can tell) one airline, Turan Air. They fly to several locations including some in Russia and to Istanbul on Wednesdays and Saturdays. We will be flying this airline when we take our vacation in December, flying into and out of Istanbul. Cost for this flight is 240 Manat roundtrip per person and you can book your flight one month in advance. Tickets are in true Azeri style; hand-written.

Aside from the modes of traveling, there are several sayings with which you will need to be familiar. The first is "Mashallah." Which means "Protect us from the Evil Eye" and is usually seen painted on a ceramic blue and white eyeball-looking thing. I’m not quite sure what the evil eye is or how it originated, but it seems pretty straightforward. The second is "Allah Gorursun" which means "God Forbid." This is normally written across the front or back windows of the bus in big letters. The translation on this one strikes me as a little odd, but yeah. The third is actually not a saying you want to hear in reference to your trip, but you should know anyway. "Inshallah" means "If God wills." I say this because it is normally used to mean "Probably not, but maybe." So when you ask if a bus is going to a certain destination and the reply is "Inshallah," it’s probably best to find other transportation. In other situations the use of Inshallah is perfectly fine and normal and is closer to its true meaning. Such uses include: "When will you have kids? In four years, Inshallah." "Will you come back to visit? Yes, Inshallah."

Finally, to wrap things up, no editorial blog would be complete without a small mention of the oil and gas situation here in Azerbaijan. Even though Azerbaijan is exporting banner amounts of oil, the price of gas remains relatively high in my opinion. From what I’ve heard the price is fixed by the government, which recently upped the price. That means that the gas stations paint the prices on their signs since it changes so infrequently. Currently the price is 55 qapik per liter, or for you lazy readers out there $2.44/Gallon. To me it seems a bit high for the oil supply that this country has, but who knows.

Will the price come down in the future? Inshallah.