On blackout
The Moscow blackout itself was thoroughly covered by Andy of Siberian Light and Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow (many articles, scroll down or look in the archive on May 25-27 postings).
The public behavior during the blackout was probably the most interesting issue of the day. From what I gather from numerous Russian-language blogs, newspapers and official data, Muscovites could get B+ or even A-.
The most persistent complaint was that there was not enough cooperation among people struggling to get to their homes or offices. With subway closed lots of people tried to catch a car, but semi-professional taxi drivers charged about 1000 rubles for the ride that usually costs about 100-200 rubles. And not enough drivers who usually don't pick any passengers changed their mind in the emergency. However, those taxi drivers who hadn't significantly raised their prices, got passengers in seconds, and weren't available for anyone else. And free rides by those who do not usually allow strangers in their cars were restricted to the obviously needy (grannies, moms with kids, etc.) or at least to pretty girls. No wonder that most of those who complained about selfishness of Moscow drivers were young and middle-aged men: the only ones who were easily available for them were, indeed, those who raised their prices outrageously.
However, it is notable that there were no lootings, even when most of the street kiosks refused to sell water, sodas and ice-cream in the hot weather (they couldn't: their cash registers, which are compulsory even for smallest ventures, went out of power too). Moscow drivers managed to sort out their priority rights without traffic lights or police, and did it so well, that overall traffic accident level lowered. There is even a joke about that: "With traffic lights out, the accident level on Moscow streets dropped. The city police department dispatched additional traffic police to the streets, and the accident level returned to normal". There were lots of jokes, lots of news swapping, but overall reaction was mostly subdued. Nobody wanted any additional trouble, and most tried to behave themselves in a damage-minimizing way. On the whole, I think that such response was healthy, much healthier than I'd predict before.
The public behavior during the blackout was probably the most interesting issue of the day. From what I gather from numerous Russian-language blogs, newspapers and official data, Muscovites could get B+ or even A-.
The most persistent complaint was that there was not enough cooperation among people struggling to get to their homes or offices. With subway closed lots of people tried to catch a car, but semi-professional taxi drivers charged about 1000 rubles for the ride that usually costs about 100-200 rubles. And not enough drivers who usually don't pick any passengers changed their mind in the emergency. However, those taxi drivers who hadn't significantly raised their prices, got passengers in seconds, and weren't available for anyone else. And free rides by those who do not usually allow strangers in their cars were restricted to the obviously needy (grannies, moms with kids, etc.) or at least to pretty girls. No wonder that most of those who complained about selfishness of Moscow drivers were young and middle-aged men: the only ones who were easily available for them were, indeed, those who raised their prices outrageously.
However, it is notable that there were no lootings, even when most of the street kiosks refused to sell water, sodas and ice-cream in the hot weather (they couldn't: their cash registers, which are compulsory even for smallest ventures, went out of power too). Moscow drivers managed to sort out their priority rights without traffic lights or police, and did it so well, that overall traffic accident level lowered. There is even a joke about that: "With traffic lights out, the accident level on Moscow streets dropped. The city police department dispatched additional traffic police to the streets, and the accident level returned to normal". There were lots of jokes, lots of news swapping, but overall reaction was mostly subdued. Nobody wanted any additional trouble, and most tried to behave themselves in a damage-minimizing way. On the whole, I think that such response was healthy, much healthier than I'd predict before.
posted by Mike Tyukanov at 2:26 AM
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