River promenades in St. Petersburg are no longer just a place for leisure. Now, it’s also something of a transportation hub. Since last May, the city began to offer water taxi services at an affordable price, saving commuters a lot of travel time.
[Melik Sarkisyan, Executive Director, MBS]:
“It’s a sin not to take advantage of this in our city. Peter the Great dreamed of this 300 years ago.”
The boats are operated by the company MBS. Some of the routes the boats run take only 10 minutes on the water… but up to an hour by car.
[Melik Sarkisyan, Executive Director, MBS]:
“Traffic jams are just about everywhere. You can’t get where you need to on time. People stay in gridlock for hours. I get stuck myself. And by water it’s fast, comfortable and safe.”
Every day the three boats carry more than 400 passengers... totaling over 13 thousand passengers a month.
Currently there are two suburban routes and two urban routes running.
It’s a service that’s quickly becoming popular with St. Petersburg residents.
[Alexey Frolov, St. Petersburg Resident]:
“Much more comfortable. Much more interesting and a lot faster than the metro.”
[Melik Sarkisyan, Executive Director, MBS]:
“On weekdays in the morning and evening rush hour, you can see passengers riding to their workplaces and coming back home.”
The cost of a trip is just under $2… a far cry from taxis and larger boats that run $17 an hour.
In the near future, the city plans to increase the number of routes to 14.
NTD, St. Petersburg, Russia.
