A law on increased fines for violations in the Moscow subway has been published

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin signed a law increasing liability for violations on the territory of the capital’s metro and monorail. For riding through stations and understreet passages on a bicycle or scooter, as well as traveling on a train going to a dead end, the fine has been increased from 100 rubles. up to 2 thousand rubles For stopping an escalator “unnecessarily” the penalty increased from 100 rubles. up to 5 thousand rubles The fines had to be increased due to the increase in the number of violations, the authorities explained. Experts supported the amendments, noting that fixing and administering compositions can cause difficulties.

Published on mos.ru and signed by Sergei Sobyanin, the law amended the Moscow Code of Administrative Offenses and concerns violations committed in the metro and on the monorail. From 100 rub. up to 2 thousand rubles the fine has been increased for “deliberately creating” obstacles to the movement of passengers (for example, when holding unauthorized events, distributing leaflets, etc.); for travel on trains going to a dead end; for moving around the station territory and along under-street passages on motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, and roller skates. From 100 rub. up to 5 thousand rubles the sanction for using the escalator stop button without “the need for an emergency stop” has increased. Fines will be issued by employees of the Transportation Organizer State Public Institution. To initiate cases, cameras located in the subway and passages will also be used.

A 100-ruble fine for these violations was introduced back in 2007. Amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses were introduced by the United Russia faction; the text was prepared together with the Moscow Department of Transport. As Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Duma Stepan Orlov explained during the adoption of the law on March 27, a 100-ruble fine is not an obstacle for violators; this is confirmed by statistics. If in 2021 escalators stopped unnecessarily a little more than 3 thousand times, then in 2022 – already 3.6 thousand times. The number of incidents involving passengers traveling on depot-bound trains rose from two in 2021 to 188 in the first six months of 2023.

The Moscow metro supports the amendments. “The changes are aimed at protecting the interests of law-abiding passengers and against violators whose actions may pose a threat to people’s health,” the State Unitary Enterprise press service told Kommersant. “If an escalator is stopped in an emergency without necessity, other passengers may be injured if they do not hold on to the handrails and fall. Traveling on motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, and roller skates is fraught with collisions with passengers, as well as falling on the way.” The metro noted that liability is not limited to a fine: passengers who suffered damage can directly recover damages from the culprits, and if train traffic is stopped, the metro has the right to go to court.

“I myself happened to stop an escalator when someone fell on it,” Kirill Yankov, a member of the Public Council of the Ministry of Transport, told Kommersant. “It may seem to a person that someone has fallen or someone’s clothes have been “chewed”, and he will stop escalator. But in fact it seemed to him. It’s better to stop him one more time if it can prevent injuries. And now a passenger who stops an escalator for a good purpose can be fined 5 thousand. This is wrong.”

Chairman of the Passengers Association Ilya Zotov supported the amendments, but noted that the metro needs to inform citizens about the new fines; it is unlikely that they will read the new laws. In the metro, we note that they previously promised, in particular, to place “inscriptions” about new fines next to the buttons on the escalator. Mr. Zotov believes that detecting a violation on a scooter in a crossing can become quite difficult. The head of the legal department of the Moscow Department of Transport, Oleg Zaitsev, speaking in the Moscow City Duma, admitted that employees of the State Institution “Transportation Organizer”, unlike police officers, do not have the right to physically restrain violators (for example, if he is riding an electric scooter along a crossing and does not stop at the request of an inspector ). Mr. Zaitsev said that this is a “systemic problem” faced by inspectors of non-security agencies who are in contact with violators, and it will need to be solved. Moscow City Duma Speaker Alexei Shaposhnikov suggested returning to this topic later.

Ivan Buranov