In four years, the rating has increased from sixty to one hundred positions (Moscow and St. Petersburg are evaluated according to general parameters, but are not assigned places in the rating). The statistical database includes more than two hundred characteristics of the operation of public transport systems. These include information on the state of the vehicle fleet, tariffs, pedestrian accessibility of stops, duplication of routes and number of routes per carrier, and the presence of a unified information system on the functioning of urban transport. Cities receive bonus and penalty points for different indicators. The total amount determines the place in the ranking.
These parameters are grouped into five categories: physical accessibility, affordability, transportation network functionality, comfort and convenience, sustainable development and safety. Thanks to this, you can see where the municipal authorities are failing.
In 2024, the Siberian Federal District will be represented in the ranking by fourteen cities. Novokuznetsk and Kemerovo consistently occupy places in the top ten; As the authors point out, this is explained by the successfully carried out transport reform. Novokuznetsk, as in 2023, again took second place after Perm: the study emphasizes that the city administration regularly monitors and solves public transport problems. Kemerovo moved from last year’s tenth place to sixth thanks to the improvement in transport performance in the afternoon, as well as the reduction of route duplication. The proportion of large rolling stock produced on the line doubled and reached 96 percent.
“We can say that the result demonstrated in Kemerovo is a worthy example of the calm and competent work of local specialists. To significantly improve the quality of public transport, it is not necessary to participate in concessions, go into debt or transfer the system to external management, for the On the contrary, one of the available options is to take care of the ordering of loose parts and links themselves and to resolve the obvious deficiencies of the route network,” the study states.
But Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk dropped out of the top 10 this year. The route schedule has failed. In addition, the regional capital’s rating was affected by restrictions on tram traffic. Novosibirsk faces additional difficulties due to the low level of centralization of urban transport, the inability to integrate routes where unregulated tariffs apply, as well as the inclusion of the metro in a single-fare system.
Among the new entrants to the ranking is Norilsk, where two main bus routes are maintained and there is a large proportion of high-capacity vehicles (71 percent) and low-floor vehicles (68 percent). Additionally, traffic movements can be followed online.
Another newcomer, Bratsk, took the highest place among the cities of the Irkutsk region included in the ranking. However, he is disappointed by the peculiarity of the layout: several large areas, very distant from each other, so the average distances between stops are significant. The authors of the rating also highlight the confusing system of travel tickets, which are very expensive and most of them are not unlimited.
The positive side is that in Bratsk there is little overlap between trolleybus and bus services. At the same time, almost half of transport units are tracked online and there is open data on the schedules of all routes. And participation in rolling stock renewal programs allows us to keep the average age of vehicles within normal limits.
Tomsk’s position this year is lower due to penalty points associated with the night rate, in which after a certain time the rate increases by several rubles. Additionally, several tram and trolleybus routes are excluded from the main line category.
Irkutsk took 70th place. On the one hand, when compiling the rating, analysts obviously did not take into account the significant rejuvenation of the municipal vehicle park: at the end of last year, Irkutsk received eighty new low-floor NefAZ buses, in addition to the forty which will arrive in the city in 2022. In 2024 it is planned to purchase ten trams for Irkutsk. On the other hand, transport reform in Irkutsk is clearly stalled. There is still no single travel card in the city. Bank cards are even accepted to pay only in municipal transport. The city maintains the practice of day and night rates.
Recall that at the same time, Irkutsk rejected gross contracts for carriers, calculating that this would require an additional billion rubles of budget expenditures. Although such a mechanism would allow monitoring compliance with work schedules by private owners, the state of operation of technical equipment and would eliminate races between drivers and passengers.
As Mayor Ruslan Bolotov explained, it makes sense to switch to gross contracts only after the city eliminates intermunicipal transportation, which now doubles two-thirds of the city’s routes, taking profits away from those passengers. And for this it is necessary for the regional government to adopt a new comprehensive system of transport services for the population of the entire Irkutsk agglomeration.
Angarsk took 81st place. Transport here, according to the authors of the rating, has very low development potential. Having a good degree of centralization of passenger transport (five carriers serve 21 routes), Angarsk still fails to establish high-quality public transport, since 75 percent of routes are occupied by private carriers on tariff principles not regulated.
The average age of trams in Angarsk is about 28 years, buses – 11, so there are almost no modern low-floor vehicles. It is curious that Simetra employees believe that tram services are almost eighty percent duplicated by bus services. At the same time, representatives of Angarsk Tram claim that their routes almost do not duplicate bus routes.
Abakan was an outsider this year. With a fairly compact layout of the city, there are a large number of routes – almost forty, but the average traffic intervals reach thirty minutes. As in many other cities, there is a serious lack of online rolling stock information and display systems.
The study’s authors concluded that the overall situation remains ambiguous. The bus fleet is expanding and more spacious vehicles and low-floor equipment are available for people with reduced mobility. The number of dedicated lanes has increased significantly, as has the number of routes to which regulated fares apply. Almost all cities have introduced contactless fare payment and transport cards.
At the same time, the lagging growth of travel costs relative to actual costs puts transportation companies in a dangerous position. The reduction in routes continues, although this frees public transport from duplication. The trend of increasing travel intervals continues: at night, public transport has become less frequent.
Direct speech
Vladimir Shvetsov, CEO of the Simetra group:
– It should be noted that the vast majority of cities overcame the difficult period with honor. Public transportation systems are constantly being improved. We are especially pleased to see the rapid development of electric transportation. The tram is recovering its key role. The modernization and development of its infrastructure and rolling stock occupies an important place in the implemented plans of the municipalities.
