MOSCOW, December 23 (Itar-Tass) —— Passenger traffic in Moscow public transport grew by daily one million people in the past three days of heavy snowfalls, head of the city transportation department Maxim Liksutov said on Friday.
“I am pleased to say that the number of people travelling by public transport grew by almost one million [to nearly six million] per day. That is a growth of approximately 17%,” he said.
He also said that more Muscovites visited the city center on weekends in December, while passenger traffic towards the Moscow region was practically unchanged.
The average traffic speed in the city reduced by 16% to 35 kilometers per hour, and the number of traffic accidents grew by 12%. “Although the general rate of traffic accidents enlarged, the number of serious traffic accidents was zero. The number of speeding fines dipped by 75% in the past four days,” he said.
An approximately monthly norm of precipitation fell in Moscow within the past two days, Moscow Vice-Mayor for Housing and Public Utilities Pyotr Biryukov said.
“We had a very difficult situation to tackle. An approximately monthly norm of precipitation – 30 centimeters – fell over the past two days. Up to 12,500 vehicles were daily cleaning the roads of snow. Some 350,000 cubic meters of snow were removed from the streets on Friday only,” he said.
Most of the critique was offered to the central administrative district, which is usually jammed with cars, he said. Additional forces were sent to the district for intensifying the works, Biryukov said.
There will be no precipitation in the city on weekend but temperatures will drop a lot. Temperatures will go up again on Monday and new snowfalls will start.