Moscow wins prize at Global Public Transport Summit

Moscow has become one of the winners of the world’s most prestigious transport prize of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP). The award ceremony for members of the Moscow Government took place on Wednesday, 17 May, in Montreal, Canada.

The capital of Russia has been conferred the Special Recognition prize for achievements in urban transport and the development of its infrastructure over the past six years.

The UITP Awards Ceremony took place at the 62nd UITP Global Public Transport Summit that was held between 15-17 May in Montreal. This year the competition was dedicated to urban projects which had been carried out over the past two years. Of the overall 230 entries 24 were selected for the closing stage of the contest. In the finals, Moscow left behind large cities of India, China and even of some leading European countries. The jury presented Moscow with a single award for several projects that were recognised as the best. Experts named Moscow among cities with the highest performance in the development of its public transportation system.

“This year, the Special Recognition prize differs from other prizes because it is not conferred on the project but on the city itself for a number of transportation projects. For the first time ever, the award goes to Moscow which has shown a completely different approach to urban public transport development in recent years. The achievements have been huge. The creation of modern parking areas, launching passenger traffic on the Moscow Central Circle (MCC) railway route, and the implementation of the general transportation development strategy,” said Alan Flausch, UITP Secretary General.

“No other megalopolis can boast such a vast scale of positive changes in their transportation systems in such a short period of time. This has become possible solely through the efforts of the Moscow Mayor and the Moscow Government. In Montreal, we demonstrated a comprehensive approach to public transport development as well as MCC and other projects. These projects have never been so highly appreciated by the International Association of Public Transport before,” said Deputy Mayor of Moscow and Head of the Moscow Department for Transport and Road Infrastructure Development Maxim Liksutov.

Experts noted the remarkable changes that have happened in Moscow over the past six years. Special attention was paid to the main project for Russian and European urban transportation development, the Moscow Central Circle. Every day the MCC carries about 350,000 passengers. The overall number of passengers has now exceeded 62 million.

In addition to this, Mosgortrans (Moscow City Transport Authority) replaced 75 percent of its surface transit fleet by purchasing 5,660 buses, 529 trolleybuses, 191 trams and 1,600 modern metro carriages.

One more important achievement has been raising the traffic speed limit by 13 percent over the six years. The number of road accidents reduced by 46 percent. Road upgrades have played a key role as well as the development of parking areas.

UITP is an international non-profit association uniting the entire public transport sector and all kinds of transportation. Established in 1885, UITP is one of the oldest public organisations. It incorporates passenger carrier companies in over 90 countries, including Sweden, Austria, United States, France, Italy, and Brazil. UITP is currently headquartered in Brussels. Once in two years, the International Association of Public Transport holds a Global Public Transport Summit and exhibition for public transport authorities and operators from all over the world. The agenda includes the latest innovations in public transportation, discussions on important issues with global experts and singling out new business opportunities.