Designated transit lane on the Kremlin Ring to open on 8 October

Starting on 8 October, Moscow public transport will have six new designated lanes: part of the Kremlin Ring, two through roads on the Garden Ring, Taganskaya Street, Vozdvizhenka and part of Malaya Dmitrovka up to Strastnoy Boulevard. Thanks to the new designated lanes, buses and trolleybuses running along these streets will be able to carry 30-50 percent more passengers.

Kremlin Ring

The Kremlin Ring is the conventional name for the route between Lubyanskaya and Borovitskaya squares.

The designated lane will run along the far left of the road with public transport moving against traffic. Buses and trolleybuses will make their way from Lubyanskaya Square along Teatralny Proyezd, Okhotny Ryad Street, Mokhovaya Street on to Borovitskaya Square.

In the opposite direction, public transport will move with the general flow of traffic. From Borovitskaya Square, the designated lane will go along the Bolshoi and Maly Kammeny bridges and Serafimovicha Street.

After that, buses and trolleybuses will be able to continue along the designated lane on Bolshaya Yakimanka Street, turn onto Leninsky Prospekt and join the Moscow Ring Road. The designated lane from the Bolshoi Kammeny Bridge to the Moscow Ring Road opened in 2013.

When the new designated lane is put into operation, 37 surface transport routes will become faster and more convenient for passengers. A confirmed list of routes will be published later.

The Traffic Management Centre explained before that the contra-flow designated lane on the Kremlin Ring will allow passengers to reduce their travel time to 45 minutes. In the past, public transport had to circle round the Kremlin.

Through roads

Two through roads on the Garden Ring will only be available to public transport. Traffic in these sections of the road will be regulated by specially installed traffic lights. Buses and trolleybuses will be able to move straight from Dolgorukovskaya Street to Malaya Dmitrovka and from Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street to Barrikadnaya Street. Under the My Street programme, new through roads have been organised along part of the Garden Ring where surface transport will cross the main traffic stream.

Trolleybuses Nos. 3, 47 and 79 and buses Nos. 6, 39 and 64 will adjust their routes. They will not have to make extended U-turns on the Garden Ring but will cut straight across it. Passengers using these routes will save from 10 to 27 minutes of travel time. 

Taganskaya Street, Vozdvizhenka and Malaya Dmitrovka streets

Public transport will run from Taganskaya Square along Taganskaya Street towards the Moscow Ring Road. Buses and trolleybuses will travel with the general flow of traffic. The designated lane will be 2.3 kilometres long. The lane for inbound public transport is already operating.

Sixteen city routes service Taganskaya Street. On weekdays, about 55,000 people use public transport in this road section.

One-way traffic runs along Vozdvizhenka Street in the direction of Novy Arbat. In the designated lane, buses and trolleybuses will move with traffic. On Malaya Dmitrovka Street, a designated lane will open in the section from Nastasyinsky Pereulok to Strastnoy Boulevard.

According to the Traffic Management Centre, short stretches of bus lanes will give priority to public transport at intersections.

Traffic laws ban cars from entering designated lanes. Violation of the traffic laws carries a fine of 3,000 roubles. Motorists are allowed to use these lanes only at weekends and on public holidays. On Prospekt Mira, they can drive in the designated lane only on Sundays. Traffic cameras help keep order in the transit lanes as do cameras installed on board buses.

Road sections where designated transit lanes will open

Kremlin Ring:

— Mokhovaya Street against traffic;

— Teatralny Proyezd against traffic;

— Okhotny Ryad against traffic;

— Borovitskaya Square towards Bolshoi Kammeny Bridge;

— Lubyanskaya Square against traffic;

— Serafimovicha Street both ways;

— Bolshoi Kammeny Bridge both ways;

— Maly Kammeny Bridge both ways.

Taganskaya Street:

— Taganskaya Street with traffic;

— Taganskaya Square from the junction with Bolshiye Kamenshchiki Street to the junction with Vorontsovskaya Street (towards Vorontsovskaya Street).

Vozdvizhenka Street:

— Vozdvizhenka Street with traffic.

Malaya Dmitrovka Street:

— Malaya Dmitrovka Street from Nastasyinsky Pereulok to Strastnoy Boulevard (towards Strastnoy Boulevard).

Through roads on the Garden Ring:

— From 29/4 Malaya Dmitrovka Street to the junction with Sadovaya Triumfalnaya Street (towards Sadovaya Triumfalnaya Street) – Dolgorukovskaya Street near the intersection with the Garden Ring both ways;

— From 2/1 Barrikadnaya Street, building 1, to the junction with Kudrinskaya Square (towards Kudrinskaya Square) – from 60 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, building 1, to the junction with Kudrinskaya Square (towards Kudrinskaya Square).