The Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport Maksim Liksutov on the development of the Moscow Transport system
In his interview, the Deputy Mayor of Moscow for Transport Maksim Liksutov spoke about the large-scale underground construction project and the implementation of modern Russian technologies in the Moscow Transport sector.
The Big Circle Line
The Big Circle Line (BCL) is one of the world's largest metro construction projects, extremely important and necessary for the development of Moscow, which is being implemented under the personal leadership of the Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin. The BCL will be the longest underground metro circle line in the world. It will have the largest number of interchanges among the underground lines - more than 45. It will be possible to interchange to radial lines, the Moscow Central Circle (MCC), all existing and prospective Moscow Central Diameters. Travelling will become faster and more convenient for more than three million residents of 34 city districts - they will have new routes. The BCL will create the basis for further development of the rail transport framework for years to come.
Thanks to the already launched sections of the Big Circle Line, the existing metro lines have been significantly relieved. But the full effect will be achieved after the full launch of the BCL. According to our forecasts, the radial lines will become freer by 22%, the Circle Line (Line 5) - by up to 25%, and the main outbound routes of the city by an average of 5%. Today, the number of trips on the BCL is up to 570,000 per day, which is at the level of the MCC. And after full commissioning, we expect that passengers will make 750 thousand trips using the BCL per working day.
The Face Pay
There are now around 180,000 users registered with the system, and the number is constantly growing. More than 26 million journeys have been made using biometrics since the service began. To pay, all you have to do is look into the camera on the turnstile and pass. It is very important that the Face Pay is a Russian technology and the property of the Moscow Government. Bank card transactions are processed by the NSPK national payment system, to which the VTB acquiring bank is connected. The servers are located exclusively in Russia - it is impossible to influence the service from abroad. Overall, Moscow is the first city in the world where a facial recognition fare payment system works on such a scale.
Today it is possible to pay using biometrics at all underground stations and Kutuzovskaya station (MCC), in September the Face Pay will be launched at all MCC stations, and by the end of the year - on the river transport. We are working on the possibility of launching the service on Aeroexpress. We believe that by the end of the year the number of users of biometric payment will increase up to 500,000.
In addition, the Face Pay is also being tested on the surface transport and is only available to focus group participants on M3 buses. This is the longest route, crossing almost all of the capital from west to east. We will gradually increase the number of routes and the number of focus group participants.
The Faster Payments System
The Faster Payments System (FPS) is a payment that is instantly transferred from the buyer's account directly to the merchant's account. You don't need a bank card to pay with the FPS, you just need to have your smartphone with you. You open the app of a bank that supports the technology, and select the FPS payment. Then you have to point your smartphone camera at the QR code on the terminal, which is generated by the VTB metro acquiring bank. The payment, once confirmed, will go through automatically and the money will be debited directly from the bank account. It's a modern, convenient technology, and it's great that it's from Russia. All transactions take place only within the country. Everything is absolutely secure.
We have launched a pilot project for payments with the FPS in the Moscow Transport. Today it works in about 80 ticket offices of all open stations on the Big Circle Line of the Moscow Metro. Passengers can once again use contactless payment with their smartphones. This year all metro turnstiles will be equipped with code scanners. By mid-2023, we plan to introduce this method of payment on the surface transport and in ticket offices throughout the metro. Also in the first half of 2023, we will add the top-up of Troika and social cards via the FPS to mobile applications of the Moscow Transport system. Thanks to this, up to 700 thousand Moscow Transport passengers a day may start using the Faster Payments System in the next few years.
The development of transport projects in the context of sanctions
We and our contractors quickly adapted to the new realities. For example, we have signed a five-year contract with the MSP to supply Troika cards with a domestic chip. Replacing the chip will not affect the operation of the cards - all functionality remains the same. This is the same Troika, only now with a Russian chip. The first thousand Russian test cards arrived at ticket offices in May, and in June we delivered a large batch of 200,000. By the end of 2022, together with the MSP, we will test and set up production of Troika cards with even more modern chips for transport and banking, and by the end of 2027, MSP will make 19 million Russian Troika cards for the metro.
Smart cameras
People's safety is one of the priorities in our work, this has been repeatedly emphasised by the Moscow Mayor as well. The Moscow Metro is used by millions of Moscow citizens every day and their trips should be safe. Since September 2020, the Moscow Metro has been operating the Sfera video analytics system - it helps find people on the wanted list. Since its launch, the smart cameras have helped to detect more than five thousand people in the metro. Among them there are people suspected of committing particularly serious crimes. In addition, the system has helped to find 170 lost children. Now we are working on introducing Sfera at the MCD and the MCC stations, at Aeroexpress boarding points and on the river transport.