Two months after the Big Circle Line began full service, transit figures reveal a remarkable uptake. A Telegram channel tracking Moscow transportation numbers reports that the line has already logged 53.4 million passenger trips. That milestone underscores how swiftly the Big Circle Line became an integral part of the city’s commuting fabric. The data comes via Moscow Deptrans and references Maxim Liksutov, who serves as Deputy Mayor in the Moscow Transport Government, highlighting the line’s rapid adoption by a growing portion of residents.
On typical workdays, the Big Circle Line handles more than a million trips, indicating a steady and robust daily demand. The highest daily volume recorded after the phase of free travel ended occurred on April 21, 2023, when approximately 1.08 million trips were registered on a single day. This peak demonstrates the line’s capacity to absorb surge periods and its role in maintaining reliable mobility even as policy and fare structures shifted.
Public officials emphasize that the demand observed on the Big Circle Line reflects a strategic shift in how residents move around Moscow. The line, developed under the direct oversight of the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, has become a key artery that reduces travel time, connects diverse districts, and complements existing radial routes. With the addition of these new, convenient routes, an increasing number of Muscovites are choosing urban transit as their preferred mode of daily travel. The visible impact is also a notable decrease in private car usage, with road congestion easing by an estimated 15 to 17 thousand vehicles as a result of greater reliance on the metro network and its extended reach.
Within the Big Circle Line, certain stations stand out for their high daily ridership. Kashirskaya leads with about 37.8 thousand trips per workday, followed closely by Sokolniki with approximately 36.6 thousand trips. Textile workers station records about 34.5 thousand trips each working day, highlighting how major interchange points and densely populated neighborhoods drive the line’s load. This pattern illustrates how the BCL serves both residential corridors and commercial hubs, supporting a wide range of daily behaviors and travel needs.
Officials note that the BCL’s network effects extend beyond single-station metrics. Transfer activity across the line helps alleviate pressure on other parts of the circle, with observed relief of up to 23 percent in certain segments. The wider Moscow Central Circle, or MCC, also benefits from more available capacity, becoming freer by about 16 percent. Specific corridors show even more pronounced gains: the Lyublinsko-Dmitrovskaya line experiences roughly a 12 percent easing, and the Tagansko-Krasnopresnenskaya line about an 8 percent improvement in crowding and travel times. These shifts reflect a broader pattern where a well-connected ring system reduces bottlenecks and distributes passenger flows more evenly across the network, enhancing overall efficiency for every traveler who relies on Moscow’s transit system.