The story
The history of the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans dates back to 31 July 1958. On that day, by decision of the Moscow City Executive Committee, the Passenger Transport Department (UPTM) was formed through the merger of the Tram and Trolleybus Department and the Passenger Motor Transport Department. This consolidated all three main types of surface public transport in Moscow — buses, trolleybuses, and trams — into a single production and technological complex. The newly established company, the predecessor of today's State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans, became Russia's largest operator of urban passenger transport.
The company inherited the Order of the Red Banner of Labour, awarded on 6 September 1947 to one of its predecessors, the Moscow Tram Administration, "for achievements in the restoration and development of the tram industry and in connection with the 800th anniversary of Moscow".
In 1960, the annual passenger volume of UPTM was 2.669 billion, accounting for 72.6% of the city's total passenger transport. Its fleet comprised 5,800 vehicles, including 1,776 trams, 1,360 trolleybuses, and 2,665 buses. At the time, UPTM included eight tram depots, four trolleybus depots, seven bus depots, a track service, a traffic service, a traction substation service, four repair plants (SVARZ, a trolleybus repair plant, an electromechanical tool factory, and a thermal switch plant), and other divisions.
In the early 1990s, Mosgortrans, like many other Russian transport companies, experienced severe financial difficulties. Due to insufficient funding, the quality of public transport services declined sharply. Revenue also decreased because of the high number of beneficiaries entitled to free travel and fare evasion. By the late 1990s, the company began to recover. Conductors were introduced on busy routes to control fares, and programmes were developed for the purchase and modernisation of rolling stock.
In 2003, Mosgortrans began the transition to an automated fare collection system (ASCS).
On 28 December 2009, Mosgortrans began operating its own minibuses using the Fiat Ducato. After their decommissioning, from 2017 onwards, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibuses were introduced.
In 2010, the State Unitary Enterprise Mosgortrans transported 1.637 billion passengers, including 1.045 billion by bus.
In May 2016, Mosgortrans began transferring some routes to private transport operators, while maintaining all public transport concessions and ticketing systems.
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In October 2016, a unified network of free Wi-Fi across public surface transport and the Moscow Metro was introduced.
In October 2017, a large-scale reorganisation of urban surface transport routes in central Moscow was implemented. The new routes affected the Garden Ring, Tverskaya Zastava, and the Krasnopresnenskaya Embankment.
At the beginning of 2018, 72 Mosgortrans routes switched to a turnstile-free boarding system.
In February 2019, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reported that surface transport had almost reached the same passenger volumes as the Moscow Metro, with approximately 7.4 million trips on weekdays.
From 1 February 2021, as part of measures to restructure the management of surface transport and explore potential corporatisation or liquidation of Mosgortrans, the management of the tram system was transferred to the State Unitary Enterprise Moscow Metro.
On 14 September 2021 (in test mode), and later officially on 1 October 2021, Mosgortrans launched the on-demand transport service "On the Way" in TiNAO. The service was later expanded to the Skolkovo Innovation Centre.
On 1 May 2025, the Mosgortrans team was awarded the Honorary Badge of the Russian Federation "For Success in Work" for achieving high performance in production activities.
Chronology of names of urban passenger transport enterprises
Since 1900 — Moscow City Railways (MGZHD), which supervised tram transport.
Since 1924 — under the control of the Moscow Municipal Economy (MKH), which oversaw bus transport.
Since 1930 — Mosavtobus and Mostramvai trusts; since 1933, the Mostrolleybus trust. From 1938, all three trusts were subordinated to the transport department of the Moscow City Council.
Since 1954 — Department of Passenger Motor Transport (UPAT).
Since 1955 — Tram and Trolleybus Administration (TTU).
Chronology of names of a single urban passenger transport company
Since 1958 — Department of Passenger Transport of the Moscow City Executive Committee (UPTM).
Since 1980 — Main Directorate of Urban Passenger Transport (Glavmosgortrans).
Since 1989 — Moscow Inter-Industry Production Association Mosgortrans (MMPO Mosgortrans).
Since 1991 — Moscow Passenger Transport Committee (KPTM).
Since 1992 — Municipal Company Mosgortrans (MK Mosgortrans).
Since 1994 — State-Owned Mosgortrans Company (Mosgortrans Group of Companies).
Since 1999 — Mosgortrans State Enterprise (GP Mosgortrans).
Since 2001 — Mosgortrans State Unitary Enterprise (SUE Mosgortrans).
From Wikipedia’s article on Mosgortrans, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3