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| St petersburg (was Re: London Overground) (309759) | |||
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St petersburg (was Re: London Overground) |
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Posted by Fytton on Wed Sep 13 10:39:17 2006, in response to Re: London Overground, posted by Max Roberts on Wed Sep 13 10:24:21 2006. "And, St Petersburg is to get rid of all its trams and trolleybuses. A shame, as it is a vast system, although currently in a state of near collapse. Woudn't surprise me if they had received some sort of backhander from Scania to persuade them to go to the dark side."That is really bad news. They were in decrepit condition though. Seems as if the Russians think they are are being "progressive" 1960s style, and haven't noticed that LRT is coming back all over Europe, especially in France. "All trams and trolleybuses still have conductors, but they didn't seem to have very much to do in the two days I was there." When I was there in 2003 the trams were well-used despite their terrible condition and unreliable service. Conductors on trams aren't such a bad idea. Sheffield finds them more effective for getting all the fares in than platform ticket machines that get vandalised, and Nottingham had them from the start on its new LRT system. "I think that the locals associate public transport with poverty and communism." Possibly. But they also seem to favour filthy smelly private-enterprise minibus jitneys, which in my observation are more typical of third-world countries than rich ones. Come to think of it, St Petersburg is rather like a cold version of Cairo overall, actually. On the bright side, since 2003 they have at least mended the no. 1 Metro line so that it doesn't have a gap in it. Are they actively building the no. 5 line? |
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