Volgograd ranks 7th in national public transport organization ranking
Former deputy chairman of the public council at the Russian Ministry of Transport and chairman of the All-Russian Passenger Association Ilya Zotov compiled a list of the best and worst cities for the organization of municipal transport. According to the expert, Volgograd earned an honorable 7th place in the overall list of cities from various regions, ahead of Blagoveshchensk, Krasnoyarsk, and Kostroma.
The public figure in a dialogue with a V1.RU journalist explained by what criteria Volgograd«s public transport ended up closer to the end of the list of 10 cities.
“In fact, we are still testing the «People»s Transport Standard.« But its essence is as follows: there are a huge number of complaints that come to various authorities,” explains Ilya Zotov. “And these complaints are broken down by various criteria that are important to passengers; about 20 have been identified. These include, for example: access to stops, their availability, stop names, route maps, cashless payment, as well as visual and audio information inside the transport. This could be a scrolling text or a stop announcement. We will launch the system nationwide soon, but for now we are testing. So, based on these criteria, Volgograd more or less corresponds to all indicators.”
Top 10 best cities for transport and infrastructure work:
Perm.
Chelyabinsk.
Nizhny Novgorod.
Yaroslavl.
Krasnodar.
Kursk.
Volgograd (compared to Astrakhan, it has preserved urban electric transport).
Blagoveshchensk.
Krasnoyarsk.
Kostroma.
* The list is from Ilya Zotov«s author channel.
But, as the public figure directly added, although the city ended up among the best, there is a fairly extensive range of nuances that “all relevant authorities” should pay attention to.
“All these criteria have a certain score based on their significance. Again, relative to other cities, the situation is normal, but compared to others it will not be very good,” he added. “Here we must understand that in general, the situation with transport work in Russia remains not at the highest level. Therefore, when we say «top-10,» it does not mean there are no problems at all. In the same Krasnodar or Nizhny Novgorod, there are significant shortcomings that people pay attention to.”
The interlocutor also explained why among all cities, Volgograd specifically has a note about preserved urban electric transport.
“We should assess cities by the degree of variability of their transport. For example, if in one city over the last 10 years trolleybuses and trams have been closed, then the city that preserved these types, logically, should be ranked higher. In particular, if we talk about Volgograd, it not only preserved these types of transport, it is updating and developing them. Astrakhan, by the way, is the first city among contenders for the best list; over the past five years, everything has improved there—cashless payment appeared, lanes for public transport, and so on.”
In his own Telegram channel, Ilya Zotov assessed transport in Volgograd this month. He not only noted the development of municipal transport since 2021, but also pointed out some problems. Overall, he spoke positively about fines for fare-dodgers, information banners for passengers, and methods of fare payment. However, the organization of minibuses, in the expert«s opinion, leaves much to be desired.
Earlier we wrote that city residents have repeatedly complained about public transport work. Thus, in November last year passengers were outraged by the work of bus route No. 21, running from the railway station to the GES settlement. According to Volgograd residents, in the evening after work, public transport had to be waited for at least about half an hour. Passengers who travel on bus route No. 85 complained about a similar problem. As residents assured, the transport cabin is packed to capacity with people already at the point of departure.
