Novosibirsk Marshrutka is a fixed route taxi system in

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

. This type of transport began operating in the city in the 1970s. In the 2010s, the city authorities began to gradually replace minibuses with

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

History

Soviet period

In the late 1970s, the first rout taxi minibuses (

RAF-2203 The RAF-2203 Latvija (nickname ''Rafik'') was a cabover van designed and developed by Rīgas Autobusu Fabrika from 1976 to 1997. They were widely used throughout the USSR as fixed-run taxis (marshrutkas), medical cars, used for trade and as a sp ...

) appeared in Novosibirsk. During the Soviet period, the marshrutka network consisted of 13 routes which mainly went from

metro stations A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in the ...

to remote areas of the city. One of the first routes was introduced towards

Akademgorodok Akademgorodok ( rus, Академгородок, p=ɐkəˌdʲemɡərɐˈdok, "Academic Town") is a part of the Sovetsky District of the city of Novosibirsk, Russia, located south of the city center and about west of Koltsovo. It is the edu ...

( Sovetsky District). The minibus ride cost 15 kopecks. It was three times more expensive than tram or trolleybus rides, which cost 5 kopecks. All fixed-route taxis belonged to the city, namely, the Municipal Enterprise of Road Transportation No. 5 (PATP-5). In 1989, the first

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

route taxi appeared in the city.

Post-Soviet period

In the early 1990s,

GAZelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, ''Eudorcas'' and ''Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third f ...

minibuses began to replace RAF minibuses. The marshrutka has become more popular than trolleybuses and buses. This type of transport was the second most popular after Novosibirsk Metro. In the 2000s, in addition to Gazelles,

Ford Transit The Ford Transit is a family of light commercial vehicles manufactured by the Ford Motor Company since 1965, primarily as a cargo van, but also available in other configurations including a large passenger van (marketed as the Ford Tourneo in ...

Iveco Daily The Iveco Daily is a large light commercial vehicle, light commercial van produced by the Italy, Italian automaker Iveco since 1978; it was also sold as the Fiat Daily by Fiat Automobiles, Fiat until 1983. Unlike the more car-like unibody Fiat D ...

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light commercial vehicle ( van) built by Mercedes-Benz Group AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a large van, chassis cab, minibus, and pickup truck. In the past, the Sprinter had been sold under the Mercedes-Benz, Dodge, ...

, and Peugeot Boxer minibuses also began to work. In the 2010s, the number of mini buses decreased, route taxi began to be replaced by buses. For example, in 2015, two minibus routes were closed. Also the number of GAZelles and Fords was reduced on 30 routes, route taxi fleet was reduced by 180 vehicles. Instead of these minibuses, 30 buses began to run.

Current status

There are 56 marshrutkas routes in Novosibirsk: №№ 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 17а, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 29а, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 42, 43, 44, 44а, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 62, 63, 64, 65, 68, 73, 86, 87, 91.

References

{{Reflist Transport in Novosibirsk