Under wraps: Moscow refuses to replace all buses with the electric buses

As Novye Izvestia found out, the concept of switching to “eco-friendly electric buses” did not initially imply a complete rejection of the operation of buses and bus fleets.

Sergey Mizerkin

The scandal with the construction under the windows of residential buildings of a new bus depot in the capital's Mitino district, about which NI wrote in detail, unexpectedly became the key to exposing the true plans of the capital's Deptrans regarding the main transport project of the mayor's office - the "Moscow electric bus".

However, first things first. Recall that in accordance with amendments of September 2017 (Decree №546-PP dated 21.08.2017, the), as amended by the 2011 state program "Development of transport system", "from 2021, it provides for the acquisition of exclusive electric buses for use on the routes of surface urban passenger transport, as well as re-equipment of bus fleets and other transport infrastructure facilities, the creation of a network of stations for charging electric buses". According to the official website of the Moscow Government, the capital plans to replace all buses and trolleybuses with electric buses by 2030.

We quote the website of the Moscow City Hall dated July 26, 2018: “All buses in Moscow by 2030 will be electric. This was stated by the Deputy Mayor of Moscow in the Government, Head of the Department of Transport and Road Infrastructure Development Maxim Liksutov at the International Expert Council on Transport Issues".

“We have adopted a program that implies the purchase of 300 domestically produced electric buses every year from 2018 to 2020, and the Moscow Government has already adopted a decree that from 2021 we will buy only electric buses”, - explained Maxim Liksutov.

The plans of Tverskoy, 13 were happily replicated by the press, drawing pictures of the cloudless electric bus future of Moscow. The opinion of experts that the complete replacement of even the capital's trolleybus fleet, not to mention the buses, is an extremely expensive and difficult task, did not stop the mayor's office.

It takes less than a year and a half. The Moscow mayor in December 2019 speaks to the capital's parliamentarians with the traditional annual report in the Moscow City Duma. Those who carefully listened to the mayor's report noted that Mr. Sobyanin, touching upon the development of public transport, said that Moscow would "almost completely" refuse to purchase diesel buses. And this is not a slip of the tongue.

As it turned out, Moscow was initially not going to completely abandon buses, even after the official announcement that completely will replace all buses and trolleybuses with electric buses.

We are opening the draft city budget for 2020-2022: in accordance with the state program “Development of the transport system for 2019-2022, the purchase of 1,860 buses is planned!

So the official Twitter account of "Moscow Transport" without a shadow of hesitation "explains" that in 2020 Moscow will buy 1184 buses, in 2021-2022 the city will acquire another 676 new buses!

True, at the bottom there is a small "clarification": "In 2021, Moscow will stop buying diesel vehicles, except for buses for mobilization needs." How many buses are needed for the so-called mobilization needs, the Department of Transport is modestly silent. According to the estimates of activists of the public movement "Muscovites for a Trolleybus" (MZT), Moscow is forced to maintain about 5 thousand buses with internal combustion engines for mobilization needs, while the total number of the bus fleet of the State Unitary Enterprise "Mosgortrans" is about 6.5 thousand buses.

Surprisingly, even the plans for the purchase of diesel buses announced in the media and confirmed by documents do not prevent the responsible leaders of Deptrans from claiming that from 2021 Mosgortrans will stop purchasing buses, as did Liksutov's permanent deputy E.G. Adamov in a completely "fresh" letter dated July 23 2020 No. 17-65-10136 / 20, according to MZT activists.

But back to the beginning of the article. Now we will talk about the Mitinsky vehicle fleet. So, in August 2019, the Moscow mayor's office posted on its official website information that the bus fleet under construction in Mitino - originally designed and built as a trolleybus enterprise - will be redesigned into an electric bus depot.

By an amazing coincidence, the issue was decided in favor of the residents by the “independent” candidate for the Moscow City Duma-2019 from the “Mayor Sobyanin's team”, the adviser to Maxim Liksutov, Sabina Tsvetkova: with the permission of the authorities, she organized and held a rally against the car fleet, collected the signatures of residents and voila - it's all in the bag.

Strange, but neither in August last year, nor after there was an official order to re-profile the transport fleet, the Construction Department did not place a state order for adjusting the design and estimate documentation.

And here is the finale of a small victorious war: to the "joy of the inhabitants", the Mitinsky park remained a bus park, which is confirmed by the response of the Moscow Prosecutor's Office No. 7 / 30-50-90-2018 / ОН7130 dated 03/13/2020 (copy of the letter is at the disposal Revised), inadvertently reveals the inside story of a bright future elektrobusnogo Moscow: "Progressive integration of electric buses in public land in Moscow city urban passenger transport is not alleged refusal fully available from the operation of buses and bus depots in Moscow, necessary for their service".

“Why spend a lot of money on re-profiling trolleybus fleets for diesel buses, if their era, according to numerous public statements by top officials of the Moscow Government, will soon end?

One gets the impression that the promises of the Moscow mayor's office about the upcoming replacement of trolleybuses and buses with electric buses are just a screen for the elimination of trolleybus traffic in Moscow, - asked experts in the field of electrical engineering and transport of specialized institutes MPEI, RUT (MIIT), VSHU, PGUPS in an trolleybus on August 18, 2018, wrote NI.

Alas, the respected experts turned out to be visionaries: it is not surprising that the inconvenient truth is so carefully hidden. Moreover, it cannot be disclosed even to the Moscow City Duma deputies - on pain of administrative sanctions. In the spring of 2020, the defender of trolleybuses, a deputy of the Moscow City Duma, Daria Besedina, sent a request to the main transport department of Moscow with a request to explain why trolleybus fleets are being converted into bus fleets if buses are no longer purchased from 2021? Answer No. 17-35-3732 / 20 of the DSP came, but its text cannot be published. It goes under the stamp "ДСП" (for official use) and is subject to return to the Department of Documentary Support of the Department of Transport. What's secret about it? In a retelling it sounds like this: “in 2020 we will buy more diesel buses. Some of them are needed for mobilization readiness. Buses will continue to travel around Moscow".

The Department of Transport and Mosgortrans NI explained that the editorial office's inquiries were "accepted", but they could not say when the answer would be received.

P.S.

Moscow City Duma deputies ask the mayor of Moscow "not to make a serious urban planning mistake" and not to give up trolleybuses. A collective letter in defense of Moscow's "business card" - the Moscow trolleybus - was signed by Moscow City Duma deputies Yevgeny Bunimovich, Maxim Kruglov, Sergey Mitrokhin, Mikhail Timonov, Yevgeny Stupin, Oleg Sheremetyev, Yelena Yanchuk and Daria Besedina. Earlier, the head of the Communist Party faction in the Moscow City Department N.G. Zubrilin. Independent deputy Yelena Shuvalova and her colleagues from the city parliament are asking the relevant supervisory authorities to investigate "the destruction of the trolleybus industry in Russia, especially in Moscow".