The Moscow Metro launches Early Bird campaign to avoid morning peak hours and cope with the COVID-19

The Moscow Metro, the operator of the Moscow city underground network, launches a discount program, which will praise passengers avoiding morning peak hour crowding amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Moscow will become the first city in Russia where reduced fares at off-peak hours will be tested — passengers will be able to travel by metro with a discount of up to 50%.

«On the Lines 5 and 15 of the Moscow Metro, we are launching the Early Bird campaign starting on November 2, 2020 and lasting until July 2, 2021. Of course, the pandemic had a slight influence on the launch date of the project, but we did not postpone it further, so that passengers have more opportunities to keep social distance. This is especially important in the current epidemiological situation», — shared Maksim Liksutov, the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport.

The Line 5 of the Moscow Metro is the busiest in Moscow, and it is daily experienced by its passengers. To create more room in the cars, make passengers’ travel experience more comfortable and safer, and help drivers keep up with the schedule, a discount for off-peak hours is to be introduced.

Everyone who enters any metro station on these two lines from 5:30 AM to 7:15 AM and from 8:45 AM to 9:15 AM will be able to travel with a discount. It doesn't matter whether a passenger travels by metro only or makes further interchanges.

The discount will be refunded to the Digital Wallet of the Troika card, using the time-based passes for 1, 3, 30, 90, 365 days, and travel-based 60-trip passes.

For the next 8 months, local authorities will be analyzing the results, and updating passengers on the progress of the test. The current results of the project will be displayed on special screens at some metro stations.