The capacity of the Crimean Bridge will be increased, but not enough for the tourist flow
By the May holidays, the capacity of the Crimean Bridge should increase to 250 cars per hour in both directions.
Crimean Transport Minister Nikolai Lukashenko announced this on air at Crimea 24, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
“We monitored inspection activities for crossing the bridge with representatives of Rosavtodor and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation. Decisions have been made that will increase capacity during the holiday season on both sides - the Krasnodar Territory and the Republic of Crimea. It is planned to carry out this work in several stages. The first starting point is the upcoming May holidays. It is planned to increase capacity to at least 250 cars per hour.
Accordingly, the daily throughput will increase on both sides, and it will be possible to travel across the Crimean Bridge with the least amount of time,” the minister assured.
Thus, 6 thousand cars will pass through the Crimean Bridge per day with an estimated capacity of 38 thousand vehicles. There was no maximum load on the bridge during the May holidays, but 80% of the tourist flow last year after the moratorium on civil air travel arrived by road. According to official data, it amounted to 333 thousand tourists, therefore, more than 266 thousand came across the bridge by car. And even if we assume that there is one car for every four tourists, then with the planned capacity, you will have to stand in line for five days to go through the inspection.
Railway carrier “Grand Service. Express doubled the number of passenger seats on Tavria trains compared to last year - 200 thousand versus 80 thousand in the direction of Crimea and back. However, at this maximum, the railway only reached the airport’s performance indicators for 2021 - then during the May holidays, the airport served 190 thousand passengers, and in general, half a million people in May.
The capacity of the Crimean Bridge will be increased, but not enough to handle the tourist flow.