Urbanist Alexei Radchenko: regions prefer to develop automobile infrastructure 
The disastrous state of public transport in Russian regions is associated with minimal investment in the development of the industry. Some of the reasons for this situation in an interview with Izvestia were named by urbanist Alexei Radchenko.
The expert confirmed that public transport is in a difficult situation. In the regions there is not enough financing for the sphere, and cheap equipment is being purchased. According to Radchenko, many cities prefer to invest in automotive infrastructure. “There are many examples in the regions when a junction is being built, the cost of which would cover the maintenance of the entire tram fleet – money could be spent on updating the public transport infrastructure,” the urbanist noted.
Among the reasons for this state of affairs, experts also named Changes in funding since the 1990s – during this period, public transport began to receive less funds than in the 1980s. “As a result, by the end of the 10s of the XXI century, we came to the conclusion that the segment of passenger electric transport represented the finalizing funds of the Soviet period, and the population materialized an increase in well-being mainly in the purchase of personal cars,” explained a senior researcher at the Center for Research on Transport Problems in Megalopolises NRU HSE Pavel Zyuzin.
The discussion about the state of public transport began after the Ministry of Transport published a note to the draft resolution on the implementation of infrastructure projects. The document indicated that the transport infrastructure is in critical condition due to long-term underinvestment. To resolve the issue, the authorities have provided for the comprehensive development of urban electric transport.