Not everyone entered - Newspaper Kommersant No. 21 (7466) dated 02/06/2023

Not everyone entered - Newspaper Kommersant No. 21 (7466) dated 02/06/2023



The intensity of traffic on the toll sections of the M-3 "Ukraine" highway in 2022 fell by almost 8% - and on the toll roads of the Pskov region on the borders with Belarus, Estonia and Lithuania, on the contrary, traffic increased by an average of 50%. This follows from the statistics that were at the disposal of Kommersant. Experts predict that the reason is the military operations on the territory of Ukraine: a special military operation changed the usual logistics schemes and led to a reduction in cargo transportation along the M-11. At the same time, traffic in some directions was supported by summer residents and domestic tourists, to which Ukrainian citizens were sometimes added, leaving their country and moving to Europe through Russia.

According to Avtodor (provided at the request of Kommersant), in 2022, more than 242.2 million vehicles drove through the sections administered by the state-owned company. This is a plus of 13.3% compared to 2021. As Avtodor explained, the “positive dynamics” is due to the commissioning of new toll sections on M-1 and M-12 in the Moscow region and the Vladimir region, as well as changes in supply chains and an increase in demand for travel by car owners during the holiday season. Traffic grew, in particular, on the Central Ring Road (TsKAD): the average daily traffic intensity increased by 10%, to 15.5 thousand vehicles. On M-4 (the route brings 53.6% of the state company's income from the total toll collection), the increase was 3.1% (up to 24.1 thousand).

Meanwhile, on the paid sections of M-3 and M-11, traffic intensity, on the contrary, fell - by 7.8% (up to 13.8 thousand) and 4.7% (up to 15.5 thousand), respectively. The negative dynamics is observed due to a decrease in demand for truck trips, which in turn is associated with a change in supply chains, the state-owned company explained.

Traffic on the M-11 directly depends on the loading of the ports of the NWFD, in particular the Big Port of St. Petersburg, Kirill Latinsky, commercial director of SOTA Logistic, explained to Kommersant, and its cargo turnover decreased by 37.5% compared to 2021. The high loading of the M-3 has traditionally been associated with international transportation through border crossings with Ukraine, the expert says, but the events of February last year changed this trend.”

Avtodor did not provide data on the volume of funds collected for the fare. The company noted only that "planned targets were met in full." In December, the head of Avtodor, Vyacheslav Petushenko, announced that in 2022 the amount of funds collected from drivers exceeded 50 billion rubles. At the end of 2021, this figure was 40 billion rubles, follows from the statements of the state-owned company.

As Kommersant was told in the North-Western Concession Company (SZKK, operator of the 15–58 km section on M-11), about 17.5 million cars passed along the highway over the year, which is 14% less than in 2021. One of the reasons in SZKK was called a decrease in the number of trips to Sheremetyevo. Recall that the total number of passengers served by the airport decreased by 8% over the year, and the flow on international airlines fell by 36%.

In January and February 2022, traffic was significantly higher than the previous year, NWCC said, but since March it began to decline sharply. The number of one-time trips by road paid in cash decreased the most during the year (minus 32%), while the number of trips using transponders and bank cards decreased by only 13%. In NWCC, this was associated with a general trend to increase the attractiveness of non-cash payment methods. The most popular destination in 2022 was the transit route from Moscow to Solnechnogorsk and further towards Tver. “The main clients of this direction are summer residents, as well as drivers traveling as part of domestic tourism,” the company explains. “The number of such trips over the summer period amounted to about 3 million. approximately at the level of 2021”.

On the Western High-Speed ​​Diameter in St. Petersburg (WHSD; the concessionaire is the Northern Capital Highway Company), 102.3 million transactions were recorded in 2022. This is 3% lower than 2021 and 14% higher than “covid” 2020. “In the dynamics of traffic relative to 2021, the movement of indicators is most noticeable in terms of trucks, that is, vehicles of classes 3–4 (minus 19%). This is due to a significant change in logistics corridors, a decrease in cargo flows passing through the port and across the border with Finland, ”the company explained to Kommersant. Residents are becoming more accustomed to the ability to quickly get to the other side of the Neva with the help of the WHSD, says Dmitry Popov, chief specialist of the St. Petersburg Traffic Management Directorate. Even the change in tariffs from February 1, 2023 did not scare off new users, the expert says.

The Committee on Transport and Road Facilities of the Pskov Region provided Kommersant with data on the loading of four toll sections in the region. The total annual traffic grew by 14.5% to 498.2 thousand vehicles. The number of cars passing through the Dolossy checkpoint (border with Belarus) increased by 34% (up to 218.9 thousand), through the Kunichina Gora checkpoint (border with Estonia) - by 64% (up to 78.6 thousand), through the Ubylinka checkpoint (border with Latvia) - by 59.9% (up to 96.6 thousand). But traffic at the checkpoint "Usvyaty" (road Olsha-Usvyaty-Nevel towards Smolensk) fell by 36.2%, to 103 thousand cars. “This is due to the introduction of economic sanctions against the Russian Federation by certain unfriendly countries, which led to a disruption in logistics, a breakdown in intercountry cooperation and a reduction in freight traffic, the withdrawal of large companies from the market,” the committee explained to Kommersant. “There is a reorientation to cooperation with friendly countries” .

“Many refugees from Ukraine prefer not to leave for Europe directly, but by entering Russia and crossing the border with the Baltic states in the Pskov region,” Alexander Vasilyev, coordinator of the Map of Dead Roads project, ex-deputy of the State Duma from the Pskov region, shares his observations. There were a lot of Ukrainian license plates in 2022 — they were all registered at the checkpoint. Hence the increase in traffic. As for the Olsha-Nevel road, this section has long been in very poor condition, and recently a free normal detour has appeared nearby: the toll road has simply lost any meaning.

Ivan Buranov



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