From sleighs to monorails: Five centuries of public transport in Moscow

Cabbies

Cabbies (izvoschiki in Russian) emerged in Moscow at the turn of the 17th century.  They drove small horse drawn carriages, or sleighs in the winter, for hire. They were typically peasants who left their villages during the dead season, when households could do without them. In the summer, the number of cabbies would drop as the villagers resumed their usual activities. These cabbies were later called zimniki or kashniki. Moscow cabbing turned professional in the 18^th century.

The number of cabbies in Moscow grew steadily. In the mid-17^th century, they numbered about 2,000. In the latter half of the 18^th century, there were as many as 5,000. In the early 19^th century, that amount shot to 8,000, peaking at 19,000, at the end of the century.

Carters were a separate group that specialised in carrying heavy items on horse-drawn wagons.

Eventually, Moscow cabbies were replaced by newer forms of transport including buses, trolleybuses, taxies and finally the metro.

There were about 5,000 cabbies in 1928, and only 57 were left by 1939.

Lineikas

Moscow’s first public transit system came into being in 1847, when all season horse-drawn multi-seat carriage service was launched. The carriages were open or covered two-bench affairs in which passengers sat back-to-back, facing out.  Each carriage followed a route, or a line, as they were called in Moscow. This explains the name lineika that was used for carriages of this type and how it became a common term.

The first lineikas plied three radial routes. By 1870, there were 22 carriage lines.

Moscow residents, however, had mixed feelings about the lineikas, which were generally dirty and drawn by crippled horses.

The construction of a system of horse tram lines led to a contraction in the lineika business which was eased into the suburbs. In the summer, lineika routes would be extended to Ostankino, Sokolniki, Petrovsky Park and Serebryany Bor and were even used for pleasure rides in the country.

 

The Moscow municipal horse tram system

The Moscow horse tram system project dates back to 1864, but the first temporary line was opened only eight years later in time for a Moscow-hosted Polytechnic Exhibition. The same year, the Moscow Duma finally approved a project to build a system of horse tram lines.

The first rebuilt Petrovsky Line (from the Iberian Chapel via Strastnaya Square and Tverskaya Zastava to Petrovsky Park) was inaugurated on September 1, 1874.

By late 1876, the First Society of Horse Tram Railways built 27 versts (obsolete measurement, close to 28.8 km in this case) of route lines and owned 82 cars and three shops/stables. Between 1880 and 1881, the system was extended to 33 versts (35.2 km), reaching 45 versts (48 km) in 1891.

A horse tram was an open or (more often) closed carriage, occasionally two-tiered with an open top (imperial), drawn on rail tracks by two coachman-driven horses. The horse tram might be called the predecessor to the electric tram.

Between 1885 and 1887, the Belgian Society built a second horse tram system. Extended in 1888–1891, it reached 43 versts (45.8 km) of single-track lines. In all, there were 13 lines and three car sheds.

In 1891, when joint operation of both systems started, the total length of the horse tram lines reached 88 versts (94 km). There were nine car sheds or shops scattered around the city. The tram fleet included 400 cars drawn by over 2,000 horses.

Horse tram service in Moscow lasted until 1912.

 

Tram

The ceremonious inauguration of Moscow tram service was held on March 25, 1899. The next day, trams began to run between Butyrskaya Zastava and Petrovsky Park. By the start of World War I, the tram system covered the entire city.

In1918, the total length of tram tracks was 323 km. There were 475 cars that moved at an average speed of 7 kilometres per hour. By 1926, track route length reached 395 km, the number of cars 764 with an average speed of 12 km/h.

In the late 1940s, the tram system in Moscow reached its maximum length of 560 km. During the next four decades, it was reduced by 100 kilometres as tram service was replaced by other types of public transit. Moscow’s last tram line was opened in Strogino in 1982.

Within the next few years, new fast tram lines will appear in Northern Golyanovo, Western Biryulevo , and Ivanovskoye (with a possible extension to Balashikha).

 

Bus  

In the early 20^th century the municipal authorities were unwilling to create a service rivalling the tram and for that reason the first bus route in Moscow was in the suburbs, from Kamer-Kollezhsky Val in Maryina Roshcha area to Ostankino. The privately run route was opened on July 17, 1907, and in the summer it was served by two open buses owned by Count Alexander D. Sheremetev.

The city’s first bus route began on August 8, 1924. However, despite fast proliferation of the route system, the bus played a smaller role in ridership (about 8 percent) until the 1950s.

Bus traffic surged in the 1950s and 1960s to keep up with the city’s fast expansion and the construction of new residential areas. By 1950, there were 50 routes (24 urban and 26 suburban); this increased to154 (88 and 66, respectively) by 1960 and to 256 (226 and 30) in 1970.

In certain suburban areas, the bus was the only public transit alternative. In the late 1980s, the bus system served nearly 3.3 million people per day (there were 8.5 million residents in the city at that time). Total route length exceeded 6,000 km, with the bus accounting for one-third of public transit ridership.

In the 1990s, funding cuts sent the bus system into decline. Route length was reduced by 20 percent. In the late 1990s, fixed-route shuttle van service emerged as a rival to buses (and other types of surface transport).

 

City taxi service

The first taxi in Moscow is believed to have appeared in September 1907, when a local newspaper, Golos Moskvy, reported that a US-made Oldsmobile car was seen on the streets with a hand-written sign: “Coachman. Rate by agreement.”

In the 1920s, Moscow had several taxi depots/garages owned by both Russians and foreigners, who used expensive European cars.

In early 1925, the Moscow Soviet of Workers,’ Peasants’ and Red Army Deputies approved a resolution instructing Moskommunkhoz Company to start buying on credit, via the Avtopromtorg Office, Italian-made FIAT 502 and French Renault KZ cars for a “municipal” taxi service. By 1930, there were two car depots/garages operating between 200 and 300 cars total.

By early 1952, the city had five taxi garages with about 3,000 cars. Between the 1960s and the 1970s, the taxi business was a serious industry, with 21 taxi garages and 14,500 official taxies in 1970, 16,000 in 1975, and 18,000−19,000 in the 1980s.

Trolleybus       

Trolleybus service was initiated in Moscow on November 15, 1933. The first route linked Tverskaya Zastava with the Belt Railway Bridge in the village of Pokrovskoye-Streshnevo. At first, the trolleybus was seen as a type of transport for the outskirts and suburban areas. A year later, however, a second route was opened through Arbat Street to Dorogomilovskaya Zastava, with 36 busses on the two routes.

From 1936 on, the trolleybus gradually replaced the tram service. The first to go were the trams on the northern Garden Ring. This line was replaced by the popular B route from Kudrinskaya Square to Kursk Railway Terminal. In most cases, trolleybus lines were substituted for former tram lines. In June 1941, Moscow had 17 trolleybus routes.

In the mid-1950s, large-scale housing construction was launched in suburban Moscow and it was there that new trolleybus routes were directed. The 1960s saw the peak of trolleybus system development. Between 1960 and 1972, the route system expanded from 540 to 884 kilometres; since 1971, it has become the longest in the world.

The first new post-Soviet trolleybus line from Yugo-Zapadnaya metro station to a terminus on Ozyornaya Street (via Pokryshkina and Nikulinskaya streets) was opened on September 15, 2013.

Today, Moscow’s trolleybus (electric bus) system remains the most extensive in the world and the sixth oldest of currently operating systems. Total route length is over 600 kilometres.

 

Metro  

On June 15, 1931, the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the All-Russia Communist Party (Bolsheviks) approved a resolution to build a metropolitan rail system to improve the transport situation in the city and ease pressure on the tram lines.

In 1933, an engineering design for the first stage of the metro construction project was approved, with Metrostroy state company launching construction soon after. The location of the first metro line was based on a survey of tram passenger traffic: the new underground service was to duplicate the busiest tram routes.

The Moscow Metro opened on May 15, 1935. The start-up line was 11.2 kilometres long, had 13 stations and 12 two-section (four-car) trains, with 48 Type A cars. The first line was bored from Sokolniki to Park Kultury with a side branch to Smolenskaya. Another two lines were opened before the Great Patriotic War. The Circle Line became fully operative in 1952.

A 4.7 km monorail line with six stations was built in 2004. It more or less connects Timiryazevskaya metro station (Line No. 9, gray line) and VDNKh metro station (Line No. 6, orange line). The first test runs began on November 20, 2004, and the system became fully operational on January 10, 2008.

Today, the Moscow Metro system has 12 lines with a total route length of 333.3 km and 200 stations, 44 of which have been put on the list of cultural heritage sites. The Moscow General Development Plan provides for increasing the route length of the metro to 650 km before 2025.

 

Fixed-route taxi service

Moscow introduced fixed-route taxis in the 1930s. ZIS-101 and later ZIS-110 cars circulated between the most important squares, rail terminals, exhibitions and parks. Passengers were also taken to sporting events. In 1939, for example, 120 fixed-route shuttle taxies took visitors to the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV) along with trams, trolleybuses and buses. Unlike standard taxies with meters, fixed-route taxies charged fixed rates like buses and trolleybuses.

In the 1960s, RAF-977 vans and small PAZ-652 class busses came to be used as fixed-route taxis or shuttles, soon replacing the earlier sedans.

In 1964, Moscow had 18 day and 10 night fixed-route taxi or shuttle lines. The number of lines steadily increased in the next decades. They are particularly important in suburban areas where in some cases they are the only transit alternative.

Today, Moscow is upgrading the shuttle vans in this system. The older shuttle vans are being replaced with bigger, safer, more comfortable shuttle vans. These shuttle services are being integrated into the general city transit system. They will accept city transit tickets and benefits.