Aeroexpress's new route #1195, launched on October 15th, connects Sheremetyevo Airport from the Khovrino metro station via the M-11 toll road and is currently operating extremely unreliably. Only three buses operate on the route, and intervals can exceed 35 minutes, a staff correspondent discovered. Travel.ru spent an hour and a half observing the Sheremetyevo-1 (B) terminal on the morning of October 17.
In the hour and a half between 8:45 and 10:15, only four bus arrivals from the city were recorded—at 9:20, 9:35, 9:40, and 10:10. Moreover, the first and last of these trips were operated by the same bus, indicating that there were only three of them on the line (recall that Aeroexpress published a photo on social media showing eight buses parked in the bus depot).
There were five recorded departures from Sheremetyevo: at 8:47, 9:23, 9:40, 9:52, and 10:12. Consequently, buses operate extremely unevenly, with intervals ranging from 5 to over 35 minutes in various cases—instead of the advertised 15 minutes. Drivers attribute this to morning traffic jams entering Khovrino (approaching Sheremetyevo itself, congestion was light that morning, and buses from the city were well within the advertised 20-minute travel time). However, in reality, the unreliable service is due to the small number of buses on the route and the complete lack of backup buses at the terminals in case of traffic jams.
An additional major inconvenience is the complete lack of any clear schedule (for example, departures at midnight, 15, 30, and 45 minutes past the hour). Instead, drivers set their own departure times, trying to keep to 15-minute intervals whenever possible, but this isn't always possible. Thus, a passenger arriving at the Khovrino metro station can never know whether they'll be leaving for the airport in a minute or more than half an hour.
Standard three-door 28-seat LiAZ 5292 city buses operate on this route. Most seats on outbound trips are full, while demand from the airport is still low. It's possible that the new route has only been heard of by Muscovites, while visitors are unfamiliar with it, and there's insufficient advertising at the airport.
Buses stop in the first row, approximately 15 meters from the entrance to Sheremetyevo Terminal 1 (B), which serves most Aeroflot domestic flights. They do not serve other terminals, despite passing right next to them and the Aeroexpress terminal on the way from the airport to the city.
For luggage storage, buses have a rack with a shelf opposite the central door. It can accommodate approximately half a dozen suitcases or other bags. Additionally, there's a similar-sized luggage area on the floor near the central platform.
The fare is 150 rubles, and luggage is free. Interestingly, each bus has its own conductor. This likely speeds up boarding and reduces the driver's workload, but it also increases the cost of the route.
The route operates only 13.5 hours a day—from 7:30 AM to 9:00 PM. The reduced schedule means the express bus will be unavailable to approximately a third of passengers at Sheremetyevo Terminal 1 (B). Of the approximately two hundred daily departures from there, approximately 70 depart during times not served by the new route. A similar proportion is observed for arrivals. The reasons for the route's limited operating hours are unknown—logically, it should operate whenever the metro is open.
There are many other oddities surrounding this route. Aeroexpress was the only participant in the Moscow City Hall tender for this route. However, the results of the tender opening report state that the tender notice was published on the Moscow Department of Transport website on July 17, and that Aeroexpress submitted its application at 2:00 PM that same day. Preparing documents for such a tender in half a day without prior knowledge appears extremely difficult, if not impossible. The tender notice was not found on the website, and it is unknown whether other market participants were aware of it.
Any independent bus operator, given the choice, would prioritize serving the southern terminals closest to the metro (Sheremetyevo-2 (F), E, 3 (D)), which have a higher combined passenger flow. However, from Aeroexpress's perspective, it makes sense to serve the outer terminal, Sheremetyevo-1 (B), the only one without an Aeroexpress station within walking distance, in order to reduce competition with its own trains. Therefore, it can be assumed that route 1195 was originally planned with Aeroexpress in mind. It's worth noting that Maxim Liksutov, the current head of the Moscow Department of Transport, was formerly the CEO and co-owner of Aeroexpress.
The decision to operate bus 1195 exclusively to Sheremetyevo Terminal 1 (B) could further increase the load on the already overcrowded underground inter-terminal shuttle. For some passengers, the combination of bus and shuttle will be the most attractive option for travel to the airport's southern terminals, despite the significant detour.
From a passenger perspective, the ideal solution would be to launch two routes from Khovrino—to the northern and southern terminals, respectively. Or, at worst, just one line to the southern terminals, which have the highest passenger traffic. However, Moscow authorities have chosen the third and worst option, which prioritizes Aeroexpress over passengers. Essentially, the chosen solution simply torpedoes the possibility of launching a normal and convenient express route to Sheremetyevo, including in the future, and merely guarantees the profitability of the Sheremetyevo route for Aeroexpress trains.
Source: travel.ru