Muscle Traction

On April Fool’s Day the journalists at one Kyiv publication published a spoof declaring that because of the tense traffic situation, trishaws will soon appear in Ukraine’s capital. The hoax proved prophetic. Today, carts covered by canopies, which carry two passengers and a driver, are a common sight on Khreshchatyk, like hotdog and balloon vendors, street musicians, and (lately) rallies.

Too bad this novelty (which, by the way, is far from cheap: the fare for a trip from Bessarabsky Market to Independence Square is UAH 5-10) has not spread beyond the bounds of Ukraine’s main boulevard. Given the current situation on the capital’s major thruways, along with the fact that the local administration pays more attention to constructing deluxe apartment houses, trishaws appear to be an attractive alternative. On many of Kyiv’s main streets the level of exhaust emissions exceeds the maximum concentration limit by three or four times. The Day’s correspondent witnessed traffic jams on eight (!) intersecting main streets during rush hour, with no hope of letting up in the next few hours.

That’s how we drive and what we breathe. The State Automobile Inspection says that many Kyiv streets, which were built almost one hundred years ago, simply cannot funnel the constantly growing traffic. The transport administration blames the Kyiv authorities for allowing minibus taxis to outnumber streetcars and trolleybuses, which are pollution-free and able to carry many passengers at once. Architects accuse the municipal authorities for the ill-considered construction of office buildings in the downtown area, which inevitably increases the influx of automobiles. Kyiv’s chestnut trees don’t only wither because they tend to turn color earlier than other trees.