[bvpcvm]

yeah, you're right about the metro - it's certainly not losing passengers. the few people i know who admit to taking the metro insist that it's more crowded than ever, but it didn't seem any worse than in the 90's; in fact, maybe even a bit better.

and i certainly hope that the pedestrian environment improves (haha: it's so bad currently that it can only get better, right?), i just don't see much reason for it to get better. in fact, there was an article recently in the exile (go ahead and roll your eyes; i don't read it regularly) in which, apparently, some minister of road safety ran a red light - going the wrong way! - on ulitsa solyanka a couple weeks back and of course hit some woman who was crossing legally. supposedly, at a press conference the next day, the minister's press secretary pooh-poohed the whole incident and blamed the pedestrian (who was seriously injured) for the accident. with attitudes like that, i'm not optimistic.