Kazan leads Russia in transportation modernization

(KZN.RU, April 3, by Renat Shirmanov) In 2013, Kazan transportation carriers added nine subway trains, 38 streetcars, 40 trolley buses and 494 buses. It is intended to purchase 409 buses running exclusively on gas fuel by 2017, 65 of them will start operating this year. This was announced by Aidar Abdulhakov, chairman of the Transport Committee of the Kazan Executive Committee, at today's meeting at the city transport headquarters.

"No major city in Russia today has had as many bus fleet updates as Kazan. The age of the bus fleet in our city does not exceed six years," he said, showing a comparative statistics chart.

Summarizing the work of public transportation in the past year, A. Abdulhakov said that 259 million passengers were carried. For the first time in recent years, there was a public transportation passenger increase of 1.6%; previously the rate fell mainly because of the high rate of private motorization.

City officials are positive that the bus fleet should be updated with environmentally friendly vehicles running on gas fuel.

Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin also stressed the importance of this task. "Kazan has more than a million residents, and in large cities, two-thirds of air pollution is due to exhaust fumes. We seriously invest in the development of electric transportation, and environmentally friendly public transportation is our goal," said the head of the city.

"It is not for the first time that public transportation has been modernized in Kazan, and the progress is evident, especially in comparison with other cities. Thus, in Moscow, only 64 % of the buses operated by municipal enterprises are low floor models, and no statistics are available on all carriers; in Kazan, however, all the buses meet this standard. Public transportation, along with housing, determines social situation. Much depends on how transportation works, how polite conductors and drivers are and how quickly you can reach your destination. We are not reinventing the wheel. The rest of the world has already passed this stage: in developed cities, most residents use public transportation. We should also proceed in this direction. Our goal is public transportation as a viable alternative to private cars," concluded Ilsur Metshin.