Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tse might have been writing of the plight of many of today’s commuters. I know this, for public transportation is the bane of my existence. Hailing from Los Angeles, a city nearly without it, and now living in London with 4,000 trips on the Waterloo & City line to my name, I have become an acute (albeit amateur) and opinionated observer of the travails that face the modern-day commuter.

So it was with more than mere curiosity that I joined a group of transport specialists and decision-makers from our countries of operations in Taipei, capital of Taiwan, for a technical visit hosted by the government. The trip revolved around urban transport systems – from the underground, buses, trains and cars that carry millions of people daily, to the lone cyclist and oft-overlooked pedestrian.

Taipei’s transport impresses from the moment of arrival: efficient, clean and well-organised, it is the effortlessness of the journey that impresses the visitor.

A tale of three cities
Almaty, Bishkek and Chisinau are important EBRD clients in the urban transport sector – and so it made good sense that transport specialists from these cities were invited to Taiwan to learn more about Taipei’s integrated approach to metro, bus and automobile traffic.
With a number of public transport projects approved and more on the way, the Bank has an established relationship with these cities and can point to projects in various stages of preparation and implementation. In Almaty, this includes the purchase of 200 new buses fuelled by natural gas as well as the possible construction of the first light rail train (LRT).

In Chisinau, the municipal trolleybus company has purchased some 100 new trolleybuses and approached the Bank with a request to help transform its road sector. In Bishkek, meanwhile, the Bank’s support will enable the city to acquire 80 new trolleybuses and upgrade network infrastructure.
There was thus much for our group of specialists to discuss and to view. They found out that the backbone of the public transit system in Taipei is its expanding, impressive metro system. It consists of nine intersecting lines with a length of 102 kilometres and carries 1.5 million daily riders. It boasts ultramodern rolling stock and connects seamlessly with trains and a state-of-the-art inter-city bus station, where meticulous organisation enables some 3,000 bus trips daily from 48 platforms. (Here, permit me a brief digression back to the US, where bus stations are usually in a sorry state. The contrast with Taipei could not be greater: intense competition among 10 competing bus companies means low prices and luxuriously-appointed buses.)

The EasyCard
Coordination and organisation are the watchwords of Taipei’s remarkably integrated and well-functioning system. Yet what elicited heightened interest from our experts from Almaty, Bishkek and Chisinau was the country’s expertise in intelligent transport systems. And here the focus was on a single credit-card sized product known as the EasyCard – known more generally as “e-ticketing”.

Though similar to London’s Oyster Card and other smart card systems, the EasyCard has many more uses and covers other means of transport. Beyond the metro and city buses, the card can be used for conventional and high speed trains, riverboats, taxis and bicycle rental – not to mention an array of other services. It can also be used as a debit card at retail outlets including the ubiquitous 7-Eleven stores – and can be linked to a bank account with an automatic top-up capability.

And it can be used to pay for parking, something which also impressed our transport specialists from the region. I never thought that I would sing the praises of parking structures, but a site visit to an underground parking facility as well as to one of 24 automated parking towers managed by the Municipal Parking Authority was fascinating. In the towers, license plate recognition (automatic payment!) and a lift which automatically parks and retrieves your car (thus ensuring rapid access to the nearby tube station) means safe, effortless parking.

The Green Energy Special Fund
Our group of transport specialists also had an opportunity to learn more about the EBRD – and about Taiwan’s activities at the Bank, especially in the area of the environment. After all, the country’s commitment to efficient public transportation is inherently a commitment to environmental protection. And environmental issues are extremely important for Taiwan. As Wen-Lung Tao, Secretary General of the ICDF, Taiwan’s international development fund, puts it: “Our priorities include the development of clean energy, energy efficiency and environmental protection.”
This commitment stands behind the US $80 million contribution made by the ICDF to the Bank to establish the Green Energy Special Fund (GESF), which aims to help Bank clients overcome the “affordability gap” in choosing highly efficient technologies which may be more expensive.
As Jean-Patrick Marquet, EBRD Director for Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure (MEI), notes, “The Fund helps to make the best available technology affordable – meaning that clients can make the leap from yesterday’s to tomorrow’s technology.” There are indeed a number of areas in MEI which could be supported by the Fund, including energy efficient LED street lighting, as well as electric or hybrid bus fleets – all of them of interest to current and potential clients in the EBRD region.

A two-way street
After four days of discussion and site visits, what made the strongest impression on the transport specialists from the EBRD region? Vladimir Merenkov, Head of Public Transport for the City of Almaty, put it succinctly: “Четкость, аккуратность, техническая организация. (Precision, efficiency, technical organisation.)” And the EasyCard, he added.
This was a sentiment echoed by Kanybek Aidarov, responsible for the trolleybus network in the Kyrgyz capital, who was equally impressed by the electronic payment systems, as well as the high level of concern for public safety. Oleg Cernei, Chisinau city council member, was intrigued by the legislative basis and structure of public-private partnerships in developing transport services across Taipei. As for the EasyCard, Adrian Boldurescu, the young head of the Chisinau Transport Department, felt that the Moldovan capital was not quite ready: “Our people are used to cash payment. And even though electronic payment would help to fight corruption, we don’t yet have the mentality to make the switch. But give us few years time…”

All in all, our group of specialists came away with a solid understanding of how Taipei’s urban transport functions, as well as an appreciation of – and interest in – Taiwanese expertise in transport planning, organisation and technology. Yet there was another dimension to the experience that was appreciated and will not be forgotten: the warmth and hospitality of our many hosts. I have no doubt that a number of municipal transport departments in the region have now been enriched with a more solid appreciation of amazing Chinese and Taiwanese food.
Taking the transport metaphor one final step, one could describe the results of the visit as a two-way street. For there will no doubt be an exchange of views and experience between all three cities – as well as between the cities and the technical experts from Taiwan. When all is said and done, a successful technical visit is about the connections, professional and personal, that are forged. And in this sense the visit was most definitely a success.

Share on Facebook

This year the Bank will finance two Ukrainian port projects, with loan sizes of €10-30 million. These are our first private port projects in Ukraine, where the sector is dominated by state ownership, and therefore particularly important in terms of crisis response.

Some existing clients have found themselves with too much short debt following the crisis and have requested refinancing support from the EBRD. The Russian railways and logistics sectors were badly hit and the EBRD’s willingness to step in has been conditioned upon the strong transition potential of our intervention. This has been demonstrated by the client’s commitment to reforms and the EBRD’s ability to reinforce those reforms by supporting the private sector. We are also working together with Russian Railways to develop a Sustainable Energy Strategy, which will have a significant impact on reducing energy consumption.

Governments in the region have also been keen to develop large infrastructure projects with the EBRD’s help. The R1 Motorway project in the Slovak Republic was a landmark transaction. It was the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) in the country and the first PPP deal since the crisis to be financed without a sovereign guarantee. The EBRD provided a loan of €200 million for this project and was key to its success, playing an important honest broker role between the public and private partners to achieve financial close in August 2009.

Another important project is Corridor X. The EBRD is providing a €150 million sovereign loan to construct a new section of motorway linking Serbia to FYR Macedonia and Greece in the south and Croatia, Hungary and Western Europe in the north. This project combines substantial funding by the EBRD, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank to complete the development of this key Trans-European corridor that supports economic growth and regional integration.

A smaller, but equally important, road project in the Kyrgyz Republic will also have a major impact on regional growth and development in this Central Asian country. This is the first time we have done a transport deal in the Kyrgyz Republic and the project allows us to start a dialogue with the Kyrgyz government on sector reform. The impact of this project is therefore very high.

Demand for the Bank’s support in the transport sector will remain strong across the region. While the commercial banks are coming back to the sector, as witnessed by the successful closing of the R1 PPP in Slovakia, it will take time for private funding to return to pre-crisis levels.

The EBRD will continue to play a key role in financing PPPs in central Europe and Russia and supporting PPP development in other countries in the region. The EBRD will continue to support the private sector to develop key transport links, as well as governments, many of whom will be stepping up sovereign borrowing programmes next year. Cooperation with other international financial Institutions (IFIs) will be key to ensuring our support is targeted and maximises reform potential. Promoting energy efficiency will be central to our efforts, particularly in the railway sector where significant improvements can be achieved by large state-owned railways in countries such as Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The EBRD will also seek to finance projects with state-owned entities on a non-sovereign basis to reduce reliance on scarce government resources and encourage greater commercial discipline.

Share on Facebook

In Soviet times, it was the rails that facilitated breakneck industrialisation, military victory and the proverbial “over-fulfilment” of five-year plans – not to mention the ideological frenzy under Brezhnev which accompanied construction of the BAM, a second, parallel spur of the Trans-Siberian Railroad*.

And today, in a transformed, market-driven Russia, rail transport binds and services the world’s largest country as no other national system does – an indispensable colossus with over a million employees hauling 1.3 billion tonnes of freight and transporting the same number of passengers annually.

That said, there is a romantic image in the west of Russia and it too is inevitably tied to rail travel. It is an image born in popular literature and films like Dr. Zhivago, images of Lenin’s return to Finland Station to spearhead Bolshevik revolution, of Trotsky’s crisscrossing the country in a battle for the hearts and minds of the masses, indelible images of the romance of rail travel across an endless steppe, of trains making their way through snowy birch forests and across the Urals, of vast expanses conquerable only by rail.

In 1975, as a college student of Russian, I took my first trip on a Russian train from Yaroslavl Station to Zagorsk, site of a mediaeval Russian orthodox monastery which would later revert to its former name of Sergiev Posad. It is a short, two-hour trip I would make three more times, in 1978, 1991 and 2009. If taken in the dead of winter, it is a trip which inevitably incorporates the romantic images I have nurtured of this fascinating country. At the same time, it is a trip which encapsulates the massive social and economic change as the Soviet Union ended and Russia emerged.

Thirty years ago, unless organised by the Soviet travel agency Intourist, it was technically illegal for foreigners to make this short journey, for it lay outside the 25 kilometre zone in which westerners were permitted to travel freely. The trip then was in an unheated train car which had seen better days, a faded elegance which included dark wooden interiors and unpadded wooden benches. Though it was far warmer inside the carriage than outside, the cold seeped through the windows and doors, mixing with the heat and moisture emanating from passengers in overcoats and fur hats to form a thin layer of frost on the inside of the windows.

The Soviet city of Zagorsk was a primitive affair – its back streets of sad, run-down wooden houses and joyless apartment blocks unpaved, frozen in winter, muddy in the thaw, dusty in the summer. Its pride and joy, the magnificent Trinity Monastery, founded in 1337, was also run down, some of it in ruins, with Soviet tour groups and guides milling about unkempt grounds. Outside of foreign tourists, there were few people about, and only the elderly were at worship in what must be some of Russia’s most magnificent churches. In what was the final indignity for this hauntingly beautiful place, surrounding streets seemed to exhibit an oversupply of red banners extolling the seminal role of the Communist Party as the ultimate conscience and moral authority of the land.

Fast forward from the unravelling of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s to today’s Russian Federation. The rail network remains key to industrial growth but has assumed an additional, no less vital role. Still arteries of supply and trade, passenger trains are now promoters of small business of every description, facilitating economic activity and individual enterprise across the country from the ground up – literally.

Russia’s train stations have become veritable beehives of small business, offering an amazing array of goods and services – as have the trains themselves. In days past, I might have ensured that I had adequate food and water for my recent trip, departing Moscow’s Yaroslavl Station punctually at 12.56 on a Wednesday for Sergiev Posad. No need any longer! A minute or two out of the station, and what was to become a parade of small vendors began. First came the refreshments (ice cream, drinks, snacks) and then came a salesman (or woman) of (in order): magazines and newspapers; detective novels; plastic reading glasses; self-sharpening knives; household goods; plastic raincoats; potato peelers; ladies wallets; shopping bags; sponges; classical and historical novels (including Maria Stuart); maps and tourist guides; brooms; oriental fans; kids stickers; and, finally, butterfly collections. Each salesman had a practiced speech and sales were surprisingly brisk. (As an added treat, the return trip included the day’s single entertainer: a talented female violinist with her rendition of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” on a pink, electric violin.

The on-time arrival in Sergiev Posad brought other surprises. The sleepy train station that was a dull, dirty and depressing Soviet backwater has been transformed into a series of kiosks, shops and restaurants. It has also served as a catalyst for economic development bringing numerous stores, a modern shopping mall and supermarket to the streets surrounding the station. An orderly, attractive complex of souvenir stands and craft stores is now across the street from the monastery.

There are at least two good reasons to make the short train journey to Sergiev Posad. The first is a toy museum exhibiting traditional handicrafts from across Russia – with a magnificent collection of toys from noble families, as well as from the family of Russia’s last tsar, Nicholas II. The most moving reason to make the journey though is the monastery complex which has been lovingly and meticulously restored to its past grandeur. The defensive walls of the complex have been freshly painted, the gold-leaf stars on blue cupolas now glisten in the sun, the magnificent frescoes on its chapels and buildings have been fully restored. It is a place rich in history, now filled with worship, the sound of bells and choral song – with orthodox priests serving the spiritual needs of people of all ages.

They say that “one picture is worth a thousand words”. There should be a saying about travelling by train in Russia – something along the lines of “one short journey begets a myriad of stories”. Falling into conversation with people comes easily in Russia and especially on the train. Arriving and departing punctually from 27 suburban stations on a modern commuter train between Moscow and Sergiev Posad, mine ranged from Marshall Zhukov to contemporary politics, from rubbish collection to the state of Russia’s forests, and from the state of the economy (east and west) to the effects of the current financial crisis. Each of them is a story in and of itself.

* The train was so etched upon the national psyche in the U.S.S.R. that it often played a leading role in the true chronicler of Soviet reality, the joke. Here is one of the most telling: Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev are all travelling together in a train compartment. Unexpectedly the train stops. Lenin suggests: ‘Let’s call a subbotnik [a voluntary, extra workday], so that workers and peasants can fix the problem.’ Stalin puts his head out of the window and shouts, ‘If this train does not start moving, the driver and a third of all passengers will be executed while another third will have to push the train!’ But the train doesn’t start moving. Khrushchev then shouts, ‘Let’s take the rails behind the train and use them to construct the tracks in the front.’ But it still doesn’t move. Brezhnev then says, ‘Comrades, comrades, let’s draw the curtains, rock back and forth and pretend we’re moving!’

Share on Facebook