City transport (general article)

Categories / City Services/Transportation/Municipal Transportation
CITY TRANSPORT, transport means for intra-city freight and passenger transportation, as well as transport, providing public services. City transport is divided into passenger, freight and special urban transport. Water and cartage transport were the first types of urban transport that appeared in St. Petersburg. By 1815 there were circa 1,500 passenger and freight boats, ferries, cutters and other types of boats in St. Petersburg. In the 1820s a regular water route between St. Petersburg and Kronstadt was set in operation, and the route along the Neva was inaugurated in 1842. Light Boat Neva Navigation Company was established in 1848. In the late 19th century, route and recreation steamers cruised along the Neva, the Fontanka, and the Catherine Canal. Since the second half of the 20th century urban water transport was predominantly used for recreation. From the mid-1950s Moskvich, Moskva and other makes of recreational boats travelled along river routes. From the late 1960s high-speed Raketa and Meteor motor ships appeared on intra-city routes, later Voskhod boats were added. From St. Petersburg's early days there appeared private cab drivers, remaining the only ground urban transport until first omnibuses (passenger horse-driven train cars) were put in operation in 1847, which were the first public route city transport, which functioned until the early 20th century. They facilitated establishing of systematic urban transport. In 1854, there appeared rail-track urban transport – horse-car, or horse tram. In 1882 there appeared steam trams, and in 1895 - electric trams. They ran on the Neva ice, and since 1907, along St. Petersburg Streets; at that time appeared the city tramline network. By the late 20th century St. Petersburg had the longest tram network in the world. In 1902 a trial launch of a city trolleybus was conducted at Frese and Co plant. However, trolleybuses first appeared in Leningrad only in 1936. In 2003 there were more than 40 trolleybus routes in the city. In order to centralize urban transport management the Leningrad Tram and Trolleybus Department was established in the late 1940s (TTUL, 1/3 Architect Rossi Street; named Gorelektrotrans since 1998). First automobiles appeared on the streets of St. Petersburg in the early 20th century, and first taxi cabs appeared in 1908 (see Taxi). In 1889 the City Council heard a proposal to launch motor omnibus (bus) service in the city. Regular bus service started in 1907; however in 1914 it was suspended and resumed only in 1926. The same year the first bus depot was opened on Konyushennaya Square (see Buses and Bus Depots). By the late 1930s 10 intracity and 12 local (suburban) bus routes were in operation in Leningrad, and in the late 1980s there were circa 200 intracity and over 100 local (suburban) routes. In the middle of the 1980s there appeared mini-bus taxis, which followed a fixed route. LIAS and RAF minivans were used for the purpose. In the early 1990s, there appeared commercial route buses with negotiable fare system. The joint-stock society (company) Passenger Transit Network (at 10 Sedova Street) and a number of others run commercial transport depots. The first city subway project in St. Petersburg was introduced in 1889; however its construction began only in 1941. The same year it was interrupted by war and resumed in 1945. The first subway route was completed in 1955. By 2002 St. Petersburg had four subway lines with 58 stations (3 of which were on the ground level). Special urban transport is considered a separate branch (transport providing public service) - fire equipment (fire-wagons and relays appeared in the early 19th century, firefighting vehicles - in 1911; see Fire safety), public cleaning equipment, which appeared in the 1930-40s, including snow-removers, water trucks, sweepers etc. Every special urban transport vehicle has its own depot, administration unit and planning and organizational system. The Transport Committee which supervises the St. Petersburg transport network (located at 83 Moskovsky Avenue), coordinates passenger transportation, monitors the traffic flow dynamic, makes decisions on changes in the route network during construction, etc.

References: Аксенов И. Я. Транспорт: история, современность, перспективы, проблемы. М., 1985; Его же. Единая транспортная система. М., 1991.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Sedova St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 10
Zodchego Rossi Street/Saint Petersburg, city, house 1/3
Аксенов И. Я. Транспорт: история, современность, перспективы, проблемы. М., 1985
Аксенов И. Я. Единая транспортная система. М., 1991 Omnibus
Horse-car
Tramway
Taxi
Bus
Bus Depots
Fire Safety
Subway
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1895