Innovations in Public Sector in the Transport Area in Russia

This paper addresses innovation in the public sector. Three case studies are analyzed in order to investigate the issue. The first one is the Moscow Central Circle (MCC), a new local railway transportation system in Moscow, is used to find out what correlates with innovativeness empirically. The second and the third are the Moscow Central Diameter(s) (MCD) and the Big Circle Line (BCL) these projects are still in process of implementation and realization, but also are pretended to be innovative in the transport area. The paper finds that Moscow government can innovate. Even though the state has a monopoly in the field of provision services in public transport, it does not lead to the absence of innovations. Innovations help government to fulfill social function and gain other benefits. What is more, they are profitable for both state and citizens. Moscow Central Circle is proved to be one of the successful innovations examples in the field of public transport services. Moscow Central Diameter(s) and Big Circle Line are also innovative projects, but for full estimation needed to be fully implemented, that is have not done yet. Moreover, the author has made a brief comparison analysis between the MCC, MCD, BCL and the two foreign projects in the same area: French RER and Japanese JNR. In case of MCC innovation implementation process was well organized due to the existence of the political will, the desire of the administration heads and the positive attitude of the other stakeholders. The other two cases of MCD and BCL are also well-designed projects which have more advantages than drawbacks and are good examples of how innovation may appear in the public sector in Russia. The paper is focused predominantly on the social innovations in the transport area, but the results can be spread to the other areas of public sector.