In Novosibirsk, they counted the number of cars and put them on the city map. In the Novosibirsk region, the car fleet exceeded 1 million units
So, the number of vehicles in our region has exceeded 1 million, only in the city of Novosibirsk there are almost half a million cars. How much land does this whole armada occupy? We decided to calculate the total area of all cars and compare this with the scale of the city. The result is impressive — see our entertaining pictures.
In 2021, according to the Avtostat agency, there are 847,000 passenger cars, 71,000 light commercial vehicles, 102,000 trucks, 11,000 buses in the Novosibirsk region. Total: 1,031,000 vehicles. And this is without taking into account motorcycles and any special equipment.
In Novosibirsk alone, the townspeople own 467 thousand cars. In 2014, this figure was 352 thousand cars. That is, in just 7 years, the car fleet of Novosibirsk residents has grown by 33%, and they also say that we have become “worse off”. Here are some specific figures, people buy cars, they do not suffer from poverty. Every year, about 15 thousand new cars leave the streets from car dealerships (14 469 units in 2020). As the head of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Novosibirsk Region Andrei Maerchuk noted earlier, «figuratively speaking, every month we add a thousand cars in the region.»
Of course, such motorization poses a number of problems. Recently, the mayor Anatoly Lokot complained that, they say, Novosibirsk entrusted to him was not designed for such a luxurious automobile life of the townspeople.
— It is difficult to keep up with such growth rates of the car park. The transport frame, which has been taking shape for decades in the city, is not designed for such a number of cars. This is the first reason for traffic jams that we have to face every day, — said Anatoly.
But people do not want to use the public transport offered by the authorities, and more and more are switching to cars. As a result, indeed, crowded parking lots, crowded yards, many hours of congestion. We can be proud that Novosibirsk is one of the top 9 cities in the world with the busiest roads. We are ahead of Bangkok, St. Petersburg, Tokyo — that’s cool.
What territory is occupied by all this expanding armada of iron, let’s calculate and compare with the size of the city. We will take the following dimensions as a basis for an average size of a passenger car — 4.5 by 1.8 meters. Light commercial vehicles (based on Ford-Transit) — 6 by 2.1 meters. Trucks (KAMAZ, dump truck) — 7 by 2.5 meters. Buses (NEFAZ) 12 by 2.5 meters.
Yes, the results of the calculations are amazing. The entire car park of the region will occupy a plot of land with an area of 9.8 square kilometers. Of these, 6.8 square kilometers will go for cars, 0.9 — for commercial cars, 1.8 — for trucks, 0.3 — for buses.
What is a piece of land under 10 square kilometers? This space is comparable to the main right-bank part of Novosibirsk. Imagine, a sea of cars covers almost the entire Oktyabrsky district — from Berezovaya Roshcha to Bolshevichka, from Yesenin to Kirov.
Well, okay, the entire car park of the region in Novosibirsk itself never happens, but 467,000 passenger cars belonging to the townspeople are on our streets right here and now. Let’s see the territory with what borders they will occupy, if everyone comes to the center, this is 3.8 square kilometers. From circus to Ippodromskaya, from Fabrichka to Shevchenkovsky housing estate. There are no houses, no courtyards, no Central Park, no opera house, no Aura, no Quiet Center, no NGS — everything is filled with our cars.
Of course, motorization is good. This is an increase in the standard of living of people, this is comfort, this is convenience. A significant part of those townspeople who cannot yet buy a car would do so and drive it (adherents of pedestrian traffic can continue to walk with a backpack to the metro / bus). But our pictures clearly show that this entire railroad armada requires more new roads, more multi-storey parking lots, more transport interchanges — all that the authorities cannot yet please the townspeople with.
