Money Growing: Operation "Commuter"

The construction of commuter car parks is not new in Moscow, and although two already operate in the city, they have not solved the parking problem. One of them is located at Gagarin Square (though you have to try to get to it first), and the second is in the Volgogradsky prospekt area and is mostly used by local residents who park their cars there.

Rush hour

In the last few years the situation for motorists, especially those who drive to offices in the capital from the suburbs, has become increasingly worse. The city's network of roads was not ready for the fast growth in the number of cars that flooded the city or for the development of the out-of-town real estate market. Already the majority of suburban highways and city roads function at their limit. And daily traffic jams lasting many hours to enter Moscow are normal.

According to the department of transport and communications, Moscow is lacking at least 350 km of road. According to the Scientific and Design Research general plan of Moscow, every year it is necessary to commission 40-45 km of road. The capital can currently only build approximately 18 km of road each year. In 2006 only 21.83 km were commissioned, and this year only 16.89 km has been promised. It would be necessary to freeze the construction of housing and offices in the city for at least 19 years to provide it with the necessary transport infrastructure.

Some experts believe the transport system will collapse when the number of cars in the capital reaches near to 4.5 million. Currently there are nearly 3.3 million, and 300,000 cars are added to the roads each year. In which case there are 4 years until D-Day.

People talk

In April two conferences on parking took place. One of them (for the press), was conducted by the Moscow Association of Realtors (МАR), and the other (for interested market participants), Vedomosti conducted. According to the press service of MAR, investors are ready to put money into programs for the construction of car parks. Real estate market participants are also ready to help solve the problems. Anna Lupashko, president of MAR, specified that Reksor, Vavilon, Moscow Real Estate Agency and others are prepared to invest funds.

This year authorities plan to construct 10 more car parks under bridged parts of the Third Transport Ring. Per month it would cost approximately 4,000 rubles to park your car in such a car park. But this system will not solve the problem of traffic jams, chief of the department for road inspection and motor licensing of the Russian Federation Sergei Sobolev has said.

The new car parks are located in the city center in immediate proximity to work places i.e. where there is no point for commuters. Car parks are needed where you enter the city and at terminal stations of the metro, not in the central part of the city, says Sobolev, optimistically noting, that the parking needs of the city will never fully be met.

The press service of MAR says that according to the assessment of the manager of the scientific-project department of transportation and roads of the Scientific and Design Research general plan of Moscow Michael Krestmein, only in the center of the capital are 72,000 car parking spaces needed to solve the parking problem and the congestion of streets. Answering a question from Vedomosti, Michael Krestmein mentioned plans to build "classic" car parks. "There is nothing to think about, they need to be built," he said.

The authorities say that the problem grew with the prosperity growth of the population, which prefers personal transport to public. Public transport is extremely unpopular in Moscow. What can be done about this?

Natalia Vetlugina, assistant to the general director at New City refuses to park her car in a lot and continue her journey by metro. "I can't use the metro. It is awful: smelly, dirty, and very overcrowded. It is better to stand in a traffic jam, at least the car gives you personal space that nobody can intrude." If we talk about using public transport to solve the problem it is necessary to first change the public transport and the mentality of those who use it.

Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Alexander Kogan has declared that to popularize public transport he is prepared to travel by metro, instead of by car, when he is not at work. It would possibly work if all the politicians used the metro and buses instead of taking up two lanes of the road from the State Duma. The cars of employees of the Federation Council in general paralyze movement on Malaya Dmitrovka.

First assistant to the mayor of Moscow, and head of a complex of economic policy and development of Moscow Yuri Roslyak, in turn, considers the development of a network of car parks both in the city center, and on the periphery as an important task. But at the Vedomosti conference he also noted that it is necessary to pay attention to and increase the comfort of public transport.

Within the city budget is a fund for roads intended to solve priority problems in the development of the city's infrastructure, the official said. This year the fund plans to spend nearly 70 billion rubles on roads, but this is not enough. According to Roslyak, 120 billion rubles would be a fair financial assessment of what is actually needed each year in order to build 45-50 km of road a year.

Roslyak found it difficult to assess the efficiency of the two commuter car parks already in operation. In his opinion, there should be more commuter points as no such service has been created.

Yuri Korotkov, chief engineer of the Scientific and Design Research general plan, said that the car park program is being developed by the town-planning policy department. In reference to parking at Gagarin square he specified that experts of the Scientific and design Research general plan, in view of the shortage of parking, recommended building normal parking in its place, but the department decided to build commuter parking. "This would be great at Kutuzovsky prospekt," Vetlugina said ironically.

Commuter parking, in Korotkov's opinion, should be located where a highway has major traffic, or where people have the opportunity to leave their cars and use a faster type of transport. For example, at metro stations. "But it is unlikely we can convince drivers to change from their air-conditioned cars to overcrowded metro carriages, whilst also paying for the imposed parking," Korotkov emphasizes.

At least in the West, commuter car parks are an element of an excellent transport system that is at its most developed. If all other methods are already in place, then make them. But before this it is necessary to set regulations, define tariffs, and drivers need to be encouraged to voluntarily agree to free up the city center and use commuter car parks, Korotkov says. Their location in a city occurs under a so-called sliding scheme - depending on the stream of traffic. Therefore they could be near the MKAD, or the Third or Fourth transport rings.

Alexei Averyanov, general director of Vesco Consulting, also thinks it would have bee worthwhile to use a different approach. There are shosses where you can drive and there's just usual traffic, and there are places where there are constant traffic jams. In his opinion such car parks should be located only on the periphery of the city, and in the center. In the city they should be situated close to metro stations.

Knots are tied…

There will be an opportunity to participate in the creation of the necessary infrastructure for the city, the mayor's assistant has promised. According to him, it is also necessary to create an alternative type of transport which will get us to the office quickly and comfortably. For example, a high-speed railway. Something between railway in the usual sense and an aboveground high-speed metro. Integration of the railway into the city's transport network is being considered by authorities as a future private-state partnership. The project would require nearly $1 billion of private funds," says Roslyak. Creation of infrastructure for commuter points can incur business. They will make profit, Roslyak assured. In such a place it is possible to place office buildings, leisure facilities and, of course, a parking system for commuters.

"This project, undoubtedly, should develop on the basis of a private-state partnership," Averyanov says. "Ideally financing should be fifty-fifty. Because at an average cost of $150 per month per car parking space, and taking into account that the such parking is not near any offices, returns on the project will average 20 years. The costs at the construction stage will be around $300-400 per sq.m.

Sergey Sobolev notes that the penalty for parking illegally is currently much less than the cost of private car parks. "I would pay 300 rubles per day for parking if there was a place to leave my car," Vetlugina complains.

Head of the press-service of the department of transport and communication Maria Protsenko says that commuter car parks are one of the obligatory elements of commuter transport points. According to the department's data, such points will be built in the areas of metro stations Rechnoi Vokzal and Tushinskaya etc. and that the projects are currently being worked on. Meanwhile a pilot scheme is already under construction around Planernaya metro station.

At Planernaya the commuter car park will have about 600 spaces. Maybe during the day it will be used for its direct purpose, and at night by local residents who can leave their cars there. In Berlin such transport points are very well developed, says Protsenko.

Construction is planned to be conducted entirely with the funds of investors as such projects are quite capable of making a profit, Protsenkso is also assured of. Within multipurpose transport commuter points other services will be offered to citizens. Of course, the main areas will be for commuter car parks, she said. Such elements of commuter points already function in the area of Kaluzhskoye metro. Here there is a covered platform in front of which there are buses and the entrance to the metro.

Commuter transport points, which will be constructed in the suburbs of the city, will undoubtedly include commuter car parks. For places where there are a lot of people coming in their cars it is very important, Maria Protsenko marks. For example, in the Tushinskaya metro area. Here unofficial commuter car parks exist in the courtyards of the nearest buildings, and this creates serious inconveniences.

Who should connect?

Not everybody understands the necessity of these car parks.

Vetlugina has lived outside the city, 16 km from the MKAD on Yaroslavsky shosse for nine years. But everyday she goes to work and takes her child to school in Moscow. She spends from 40 minutes to 2.5 hours driving. In the summer and on national holiday when the roads are not busy, she spends no more than 30 minutes. But she is prepared to put up with the traffic jams.

Vetlugina considers commuter car parks to be a service for a rather limited circle of users. "They could be built in the suburbs where the highways are deadlocked, for example, on Kashirskoye, Varshakskoye, Volgogradskoye, and Entusiast shosses." Her friend living in Biryulev, works in the center. She travels by car to the nearest metro station, parks and then continues her journey on the metro.

But no businessman will start to use such means of transport, thinks Vetlyugina. "If a person has presumably paid from $0.5 million to live in a cottage outside the city, then they don't worry about traffic jams. Such people buy a car worth at least 100,000 euros, and transform it into an office on wheels and as such build their work day so that they do not sit in traffic jams," she says.

Will businessmen invest?

Sergey Bagayev, general director of Babylon says that theoretically they are prepared to invest in the construction of car parks. However he categorically rejects commuter car park projects. According to him, car parks that use a lift system are the most attractive for investment. They take up a smaller space and do not use big ramps.

According to Bagayev they are convenient to have at an end face of a building, in fact practically all new buildings have no windows on their end faces, and this is an ideal place for such parking. In a building with 17 floors 75 cars can be parked. And the area of such parking will take up approximately 100 sq.m with a width of 8 meters. According to Bagayev, primary investments in such a project are $100,000-$200,000. One space in such parking will cost from $15,000, instead of from $30,000, as in an underground parking.

Sergey Zhidayev, general director of the Moscow Agency of Real Estate (МАN), is assured that the construction of car parks is a favorable business. MAN also was not engaged in it earlier, but now it will become obligatory. According to Zhidayev, areas in which МАN builds housing, also very much require car parks. And this is the case in Moscow as well as in the Moscow Region.

Zhidayev says the company is prepared to invest funds in the construction of commuter car parks, but under certain conditions: the company does not consider projects with profitability below 15% per year. The company has not yet received such an offer. It is difficult to estimate the primary investments in the construction of a commuter car park. But if the project is economically interesting the company is ready to find any funds necessary, says Zhidayev. And this may be up to $100 million.

In the West, in many cities, for example in Milan, there are huge car parks for some 2,000-4,000 cars. The car owner reaches the center, parks their car and goes on with their affairs. In Florence the city center is absolutely closed to motorists, here it is only possible to travel by public transport or by taxi. In Barcelona, Averyanov says that small car parks under buildings are numerous in the city center.

In Moscow, having reached the center, motorists are compelled to leave their cars where there is a place. More often than not it is a sidewalk. Because of this pedestrian access is narrowed. If there was a serious plan to improve the situation companies would participate with pleasure, summarizes Zhidayev.

Averyanov says that he recently communicated with representatives of 3E Car Park Investors SCA, which specializes in the construction of car parks. At present it is actively entering markets in Eastern Europe and Russia. Unfortunately, the company does not have the understanding, or know which technologies should be used to solve the problem in Russia.

Now there is an interesting situation. Despite traffic jams lasting for hours and a lack of places to park, respondents of Vedomosti flatly refuse to use public transport because of its condition. It was not possible to find out exactly who needs commuter car parks. In theory there is a plan to unload the "commuter" highways to the capital. Whether it will work or not, it is not clear. One thing is clear though: car parks are needed. And lots of them. Whether they will solve the problem of the congestion of roads is another question. But isn't something better than nothing?