The long and winding road
Solutions for Moscow's gridlock problems go beyond new roads and bus lanes
to the competitiveness of alternatives to cars
Oleg Nikishenkov - Moscow News - themoscownews.com - 4.16.12 - JRL 2012-71
The notorious traffic congestion in Moscow usually gets worse with the arrival of spring, with warmer weather and clearer roads inspiring more people to get out in their cars.
file photo The recent weather may not have been feeling very springlike, but Moscow's chronic gridlock was still the focus of the Passenger Forum 2012, which gathered transportation analysts and officials from across Russia and beyond at RIA Novosti last Wednesday.
Solutions in the shape of public transportation seem difficult to realize, the forum concluded, due to problems such as a lack of coherence between forms of mass transit in the city and Russian Railways' loss-making operations year after year.
Metro density
One of the city's major landmarks, the "most beautiful metro in the world," has a significant weakness: its inability to handle the number of passengers that use it daily.
Ivan Besedin, the new Moscow metro chief, said at the forum that current passenger rates exceed the system's capacity by 40 percent. For the two figures to even out, he said that a total length of 600 kilometers is necessary, but it stands now at 305 kilometers.
Expansion is in the offing, however. Besedin outlined the plans for the network, with capacity expected to grow by 20 percent by 2020, and the system's extension to nine districts where there are now no stations, leaving 13 without service.
At the same time, "the number of overloaded lines will go down from the current 41 percent to 10 percent of the total, and the density of passengers per square meter will go down by 10 percent," he said.
Incoherent system
The overcrowded metro is only part of the problem, with a lack of coherence between the city's various forms of transit: the analysts at the forum agreed that one form of passenger ticket for buses, trolleybuses, trams, and the metro would help boost use of the systems. Such coherence would be supported by turning the largest transit facilities in the city, the train stations, into hubs to link commuter trains with local city transportation.
As ideal as this convergence of service sounds, several obstacles stand in the way of its accomplishment, particularly the different levels of operating costs, infrastructure maintenance and profitability each system has.
State rail monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) is the most distinct example because of its low passenger rates and consistent revenue shortfalls. From an economic standpoint, trains are the most efficient form of mass transit because they require less extensive infrastructure construction than air, water or road transportation. Still, they often lose out to cars, which offer better value when it comes to passenger comfort.
RZhD debts
Problems of indebtedness are a very real issue at RZhD, which has been operating at a loss for several years, but is insulated by a law requiring the government to fill in the gap between revenue and expenses.
In 2011, RZhD's passenger train subsidiary, the Federal Passenger Company, sustained more than 27 billion rubles ($912 million) in losses for long-distance transit, RZhD chief Vladimir Yakunin told the forum. Local commuter trains were about 8.5 billion rubles in the red ($287 million) for that same year. In accordance with the law, the government paid the company 25 billion rubles from the federal budget. These shortfalls, moreover, came from the fact that fares for the most popular third-class seats, or platskart fares, are kept low by government order.
Yakunin does not see this cushion in a completely positive light. While he acknowledged that the role of the state monopoly was to ensure mobility for everyone in Russia, he said that RZhD's ability to finance growth with internal restructuring was low due to its dependence on the state.
"We can't count on internal cuts within RZhD to get funds for modernization of the rolling stock," he said.
Private partnerships
The heavy involvement of the state in RZhD's finances may lead to greater cooperation with the private sector in the form of public-private partnerships, which can offer the financial flexibility necessary for improvements.
A current example is Kursky Station, which has been renovated with the help of private developers and businesses. The station's interior resembles a newly built shopping mall located in the very center of Moscow, providing extra facilities for people waiting to travel. Pizza places do not sell train tickets, however, and in the high summer travel season, passengers are still standing in long lines to buy tickets in a station with little air conditioning.
Sergei Abramov, head of RZhD's division for train stations, told The Moscow News that lines will be reduced as more tickets are sold online and more ticket machines installed, and may even be eliminated as the offices are replaced with automated sales.
The problem of air conditioning could only be addressed through rebuilding entire station, Abramov said.
"We came to the conclusion that we would have to rebuild from the ground up, since the old one is impossible to cool down due to some mistakes in the initial construction," Abramov said.
Pay per passenger
In terms of RZhD's relations with the government, Yakunin would prefer a scheme by which it would pay the company in accordance with the number of passengers carried, rather than compensate for low revenue after the fact. This would give RZhD an incentive to attract more passengers, and hence invest in infrastructure improvements.
Little space exists for new routes, however, so other ways would have to be found to increase passenger numbers. Double-decker trains may be one solution, as well as improvement in passenger comfort.
Part of RZhD's problem is the development of first-class and second-class, coupe cars, which cater to the small segment of its passenger base that can afford these cars' unregulated fares. Many passengers consider the cost prohibitive and not worth the extra comfort provided, opting instead for the less expensive platskart fares.
Research carried out by Priestmangoode, a British firm known for state-of-the-art high-speed and double-decker trains, has shown that passengers do not expect much from their trains. They consider "punctuality, quality of seats, and toilets" to be most important, company director Paul Priestman said. It is attention to the basics, therefore, rather than the frills, that are the keys to attracting more passengers.
"Prices, obviously, are the bottom line, and it's the same in many parts of the world," Priestman said. "It's still quicker to travel by train, but people choose cars, causing congestion, because cars are cheaper."
Keywords: Russia, Economy, Infrastructure - Russian News - Russia
The notorious traffic congestion in Moscow usually gets worse with the arrival of spring, with warmer weather and clearer roads inspiring more people to get out in their cars.
file photo The recent weather may not have been feeling very springlike, but Moscow's chronic gridlock was still the focus of the Passenger Forum 2012, which gathered transportation analysts and officials from across Russia and beyond at RIA Novosti last Wednesday.
Solutions in the shape of public transportation seem difficult to realize, the forum concluded, due to problems such as a lack of coherence between forms of mass transit in the city and Russian Railways' loss-making operations year after year.
Metro density
One of the city's major landmarks, the "most beautiful metro in the world," has a significant weakness: its inability to handle the number of passengers that use it daily.
Ivan Besedin, the new Moscow metro chief, said at the forum that current passenger rates exceed the system's capacity by 40 percent. For the two figures to even out, he said that a total length of 600 kilometers is necessary, but it stands now at 305 kilometers.
Expansion is in the offing, however. Besedin outlined the plans for the network, with capacity expected to grow by 20 percent by 2020, and the system's extension to nine districts where there are now no stations, leaving 13 without service.
At the same time, "the number of overloaded lines will go down from the current 41 percent to 10 percent of the total, and the density of passengers per square meter will go down by 10 percent," he said.
Incoherent system
The overcrowded metro is only part of the problem, with a lack of coherence between the city's various forms of transit: the analysts at the forum agreed that one form of passenger ticket for buses, trolleybuses, trams, and the metro would help boost use of the systems. Such coherence would be supported by turning the largest transit facilities in the city, the train stations, into hubs to link commuter trains with local city transportation.
As ideal as this convergence of service sounds, several obstacles stand in the way of its accomplishment, particularly the different levels of operating costs, infrastructure maintenance and profitability each system has.
State rail monopoly Russian Railways (RZhD) is the most distinct example because of its low passenger rates and consistent revenue shortfalls. From an economic standpoint, trains are the most efficient form of mass transit because they require less extensive infrastructure construction than air, water or road transportation. Still, they often lose out to cars, which offer better value when it comes to passenger comfort.
RZhD debts
Problems of indebtedness are a very real issue at RZhD, which has been operating at a loss for several years, but is insulated by a law requiring the government to fill in the gap between revenue and expenses.
In 2011, RZhD's passenger train subsidiary, the Federal Passenger Company, sustained more than 27 billion rubles ($912 million) in losses for long-distance transit, RZhD chief Vladimir Yakunin told the forum. Local commuter trains were about 8.5 billion rubles in the red ($287 million) for that same year. In accordance with the law, the government paid the company 25 billion rubles from the federal budget. These shortfalls, moreover, came from the fact that fares for the most popular third-class seats, or platskart fares, are kept low by government order.
Yakunin does not see this cushion in a completely positive light. While he acknowledged that the role of the state monopoly was to ensure mobility for everyone in Russia, he said that RZhD's ability to finance growth with internal restructuring was low due to its dependence on the state.
"We can't count on internal cuts within RZhD to get funds for modernization of the rolling stock," he said.
Private partnerships
The heavy involvement of the state in RZhD's finances may lead to greater cooperation with the private sector in the form of public-private partnerships, which can offer the financial flexibility necessary for improvements.
A current example is Kursky Station, which has been renovated with the help of private developers and businesses. The station's interior resembles a newly built shopping mall located in the very center of Moscow, providing extra facilities for people waiting to travel. Pizza places do not sell train tickets, however, and in the high summer travel season, passengers are still standing in long lines to buy tickets in a station with little air conditioning.
Sergei Abramov, head of RZhD's division for train stations, told The Moscow News that lines will be reduced as more tickets are sold online and more ticket machines installed, and may even be eliminated as the offices are replaced with automated sales.
The problem of air conditioning could only be addressed through rebuilding entire station, Abramov said.
"We came to the conclusion that we would have to rebuild from the ground up, since the old one is impossible to cool down due to some mistakes in the initial construction," Abramov said.
Pay per passenger
In terms of RZhD's relations with the government, Yakunin would prefer a scheme by which it would pay the company in accordance with the number of passengers carried, rather than compensate for low revenue after the fact. This would give RZhD an incentive to attract more passengers, and hence invest in infrastructure improvements.
Little space exists for new routes, however, so other ways would have to be found to increase passenger numbers. Double-decker trains may be one solution, as well as improvement in passenger comfort.
Part of RZhD's problem is the development of first-class and second-class, coupe cars, which cater to the small segment of its passenger base that can afford these cars' unregulated fares. Many passengers consider the cost prohibitive and not worth the extra comfort provided, opting instead for the less expensive platskart fares.
Research carried out by Priestmangoode, a British firm known for state-of-the-art high-speed and double-decker trains, has shown that passengers do not expect much from their trains. They consider "punctuality, quality of seats, and toilets" to be most important, company director Paul Priestman said. It is attention to the basics, therefore, rather than the frills, that are the keys to attracting more passengers.
"Prices, obviously, are the bottom line, and it's the same in many parts of the world," Priestman said. "It's still quicker to travel by train, but people choose cars, causing congestion, because cars are cheaper."