How we sailed on the new electric trams in Moscow! At the same time I got infected with mobile Internet (and was surprised)

We at iPhones.ru love to measure the speed of the Internet. They measured it all over Russia. In big cities. Underground, in the subway. Even BCL. And above ground, along the MCC.

We did not measure the speed in only one place: on the water.

Now this barrier has been passed. We decided to combine the useful with the interesting – to go sailing on the Moscow River on the new water electric trams. They launched this year. You may have seen such news.

We share our impressions further. Well, measurements, of course. There were no surprises there.

What kind of river trams appeared in Moscow

This is a new type of public transport. Currently, it captures the water part.

So far, only one route of the new water electric tram is available. In this case, there are 6 berths: Kyiv, Trekhgorny, City-Bagration (not always convenient), City-Central, Kutuzovsky and Heart of the Capital. 4 more stations will open this fall: Fili Park, Karamyshevsky, Beregovoy and Krasnopresnensky parks.

The second route will include the berths of Avtozavodsky Bridge, ZIL, Nagatinsky, Novinki, Klenovy Boulevard, Melovoy, Southern River Station, Nagatinsky Backwater, Kolomenskaya Embankment and Pechatniki. It doesn’t have a launch date yet.

Floating stations for them with a diameter of 10 meters. They have a place to relax, Wi-Fi, a mini-cafe and an information board with Places. In total, 23 such berths will be equipped in the city.

What is the route of the new river trams

This is the first and currently the only route

Short answer: floating. Sorry.

More or less up-to-date Rules for river tram routes can be viewed on the official website of the Moscow Deptrans. It is updated daily.

However, keep in mind that routes can be operated daily without interruption, even during the day. Some stations may be closed today but open tomorrow or in a few hours. Therefore, now river routes are more of a recreational method of transportation than a full-fledged alternative to overground and underground public transport. With the clarity and regularity of the same subway, they do not compete, and do not repeat.

At the time of our testing, the new river trams sailed along the following route: Kyiv → Trekhgorny → City Central → Kutuzovsky → Heart of the Capital.

By the end of the year, it is planned to open other intermediate stations, as well as use the second transport route.

Impressions from a trip in a new river tram

Its design is futuristic, a movie from a movie about the distant future

To get on the new river tram among the first and without a queue, you need to come on weekdays and literally to the first departure.

During the day and in the late afternoon, the waiting time for boarding can be 2 hours, and there will be a whole hundred people in front of you, if not more. While all this is new, the flow wants a very large one.

Do not believe the schedule on the Deptrans website, it may not match the real ones

The staff at the entrance recommended to come from 7 to 10 am.

You can pre-book a seat in the Moscow Transport branded application. Few people do this, and most of the people are in a “live queue”.

The photo was taken at lunchtime on Tuesday. Wishing to ride was under a hundred

To get on the tram itself, you need to pass a small checkpoint. They check for prohibited items, such as knives and weapons. Then it remains to purchase a ticket at the floating station. In our case, it was Kyiv, the starting point of departure.

By the way, if you don’t want to wait for your turn, you really want to protest the tram, then it’s better to start from the Heart of the Capital station. There are almost never people on it.

We return to landing. While the tram is standing and waiting for its turn, it is actively loaded. At this moment, 30-40 people are let in from Kievskaya.

There are 50 seats in total, 10-20 more are sent for those who want to ride in the near future. By the way, for some, this transport has already become commonplace, judging by the conversations – people pass 1-2 stations and go about their business.

Payment on the spot is made by card, Troika and payment stickers are also accepted. Came, passed, got on board. Terminals work quickly, like in the subway.

This board always displays the delivery time and the number of places

Fill the river tram exclusively for seats. Yes, there is space for a link here, but it’s not allowed. It is not allowed to go out on deck while moving, only within the guest area.

Inside, all seats are occupied next to the tables. During the trip, you can comfortably have a bite to eat, there are all conditions for this. And if you suddenly want to drink, then a water machine is provided for this.

The only embarrassing thing was that the Deptrans website indicated that the trams had USB ports for charging, but we could not find them.

Also inside there is a climate control system to use always a comfortable temperature inside. I’ll tell you straight: don’t expect slowdowns under the influence of the sun, it will be stuffy because of the panoramic windows on all sides. In other cases, the tram is really good.

Look only at these views:

For the low-income, there are also small “bike racks” and toilets.

The movement of the tram is smooth, there is no feeling of even a slight pitching. It’s like riding an electric bus – quite quietly and unexpectedly.

If you want to take beautiful photos through the panorama, then it is better to take a window seat at the airport. There will be many such applicants, I guarantee. And so, in general, it is spacious inside the water transport itself, there is no claustrophobic feeling of closeness.

Disembarkation is possible according to any of the prescriptions of a higher doctor. To do this, just go to the platform and that’s it, you don’t need to apply anything else.

The last question remains. What’s up with mobile internet? on the water?

How did we measure

For testing, we used several iPhone 14 Pro of the same model and the same version of iOS. They contained SIM-cards of Russian operators: Tele2, Beeline, MTS and MegaFon.

How to measure speed: in a famous service Speedtest.net by OOKLA (free on the App Store).

Measurements were made along the following route, between the berths:

▪ Kyiv → (measurement 1) → Tryokhgorny
▪ Trekhgorny → (measurement 2) → City-Central
▪ City-Central → (measurement 3) → Kutuzovsky
▪ Kutuzovsky → (measurement 4) → Heart of the Capital

The statistics show only the best result for an individual order.

1. Kyiv → Tryokhgorny

• Tele 2: 39.2 Mbps
• beeline: 13.7 Mbps
• MTS: 66.7 Mbps
• MegaFon: 180 Mbps

Best Speed: Megaphone

2. Trekhgorny → City Central

• Tele 2: 48.7 Mbps
• beeline: no signal
• MTS: 103 Mbps
• MegaFon: 170 Mbps

Best Speed: Megaphone

3. City-Central → Kutuzovsky

• Tele 2: 28.5 Mbps
• beeline: no signal
• MTS: 62.9 Mbps
• MegaFon: 39.3 Mbps

Best Speed: MTS

4. Kutuzovsky → Heart of the Capital

• Tele 2: 44.2 Mbps
• beeline: no signal
• MTS: 51.9 Mbps
• MegaFon: 195 Mbps

Best Speed: Megaphone

Impressions are good. But not all operators succeeded.

Water electric trams pleased. Quiet, comfortable, pretty fast to get there – and certainly more interesting than the subway. It is clear why there are such queues. Many are not there for the first time.

But the case of mobile Internet surprised. Megaphone in general was faster than others. Then walked MTS. The third surprise (for us) appeared Tele 2, usually closing such ratings. But most of all I was struck by the beeline. He didn’t really catch any major part of the route at all.

What’s the matter here? It is possible that the beeline equipment is directed and configured in such a way that it does not capture the Moscow River. Maybe it’s something else. Let’s ask a question to the operator, abroad.

Let me remind you that tickets and current routes, as well as other information about this new type of transport can be found on the official website of Detrans Moscow.

📸 All photos in the article: