Bus Service Buckles Under Strain

If you have been feeling like a canned sardine while traveling on Moscow's buses recently, there is a reason.


The average 115-passenger articulated bus these days is carrying up to 300 passengers, while smaller ones with space for 80 are carrying up to 150.


"No wonder 70 to 80 of our buses break down every day in the middle of the road, passengers have to get off, walk to the nearest stop and wait for another crowded vehicle," said Yevgeny Sergeyev, a senior engineer at Bus Park 2 in eastern Moscow. He added that a third of the buses in the park break down every day.


The city government does not provide enough funds for the second most used form of municipal transportation with 4.2 million passengers daily, to buy new buses, according to Vyacheslav Orlov, deputy head of the city public transportation agency.


The fares, 30 rubles (less than two cents), only cover 6-7 percent of the fuel and maintenance expenses. The city government has given priority to financing and developing the metro system which transports 5.7 million people daily. However, for many areas in Moscow, especially in the outskirts, buses are the only means of transportation, Orlov said.


To provide a regular service Moscow needs about 6,500 buses on the streets every day, but there are only 3,600 at the moment, leading to delays and overloading most of the time, according to Orlov.


"I have stopped traveling by bus," said Maxim Fedoryaka, 25. "It is just one stop from my place to the metro, but I take a taxi whenever I can to avoid the crowds and delays."


The buses are supposed to be replaced every five years on average, but with Liaz buses costing 32 million rubles ($20,000), and the larger Hungarian-made Ikarus buses running to $107,000, Mosgortrans does not get enough money from the city budget to replace old vehicles, Orlov said.


"This bus did not have an engine when it arrived from the factory," said Sergeyev at Bus Park 2 which he maintained is one of the best-equipped stations in Moscow.


He pointed to a shining new Liaz bus produced by the Likino factory near Moscow and explained that the factory has no parts to make engines, and one for the bus will have to be bought from a different producer.


After the park's mechanics have installed an engine, the bus is likely to run for about nine years and well beyond the prescribed 500,000 kilometers along Moscow's vehicle-destroying roads before it is dismantled for spare parts.


"About five years ago we had twice as many buses in the park, and of course the strain was much less," Sergeyev said. "Now the buses wear out sooner, but have to run longer."


But even for buses that are in working condition there are not enough drivers, officials said.


"The best 400 drivers out of about 1,000 we had four years ago left to work for joint ventures because we could not offer high salaries," said Nikolai Glyshchuk, deputy director of Bus Park 4. "The ones that remained are usually poorly qualified, and that is sometimes dangerous for passengers."


Right now drivers' wages are relatively high, ranging from 400,000 to 500,000 rubles, but the better drivers still prefer less strenuous jobs, Glyshchuk said.


Both parks 2 and 4 have been hiring drivers from the former Soviet republics, notably Ukraine and Belarus, but the city still has only 9,000 drivers, or about one-half of what it needs.