The newspaper reported that businessmen at a recent business forum in the city had suggested adding a VIP carriage to regular metro trains. The special carriages would be equipped with more comfortable seats and a buffet. The businessmen are ready to pay a monthly fee of 100-150 euros per person for the right to travel in such carriages.
Yulia Shevel, a spokesman for the St. Petersburg subway system, said that unfortunately such a project would be impossible to implement.
"Firstly, we cannot provide special escalators for VIPs and it is not plausible for us to drill special 'elevators' from the streets as this would cause damage to the city's monuments," she said.
"Secondly, the head of the subway system has said that the St. Petersburg metro has always been intended for broad public use, and nobody is going to change its social function," she added.
According to the project proposed by the businessmen, the money that the 'VIPs' would pay could be used to provide free of charge metro travel for the city's pensioners and handicapped.
