Marshrutka Stories – a Visual Archive

It is hard to study marshrutkas. ey are elusive; there are no clear criteria on what It also is easy to study marshrutkas. ey are unforgettable. Ev- a marshrutka is or on what a marshrutka is not. ey dier by color, size and shape. eryone who experienced a marshrutka ride has their own story ey dier in whom they serve, who drives them, who owns them, who governs about it. ey are omnipresent and indispensable to the every- them. ey dier in the ways they operate, the way routes are laid out, the way they day experience of mobility in a majority of urban and rural are standardised. Rules of behaviour in a marshrutka also dier. ey are quietly spaces of the post-Soviet region. People might talk of marshrut- codied, not easy to comprehend, requiring familiarity and insiders’ knowledge. kas with hate, fear, and tiredness, or alternately, with love, ey change, adjust, and adapt quickly. ey shrink and expand, they occupy humor, empathy, and nostalgia. But, they will always talk pas- public space but at points become invisible. ey simultaneously enable and con- sionately and enthusiastically. It is easy to relate to marshrutkas. front. ey signify diverse, and at points contradictory, things for dierent people It’s easy to have personal stories. Often the intimacy of a mar- at dierent times. ey have been markers of the decay of Soviet infrastructure and shrutka space unites a diversity of narratives. Intimacy as a of a Soviet vision of modernity. ey have also signied a new entrepreneurial spirit sometimes-unwanted consequence of a tight physical space, but of capitalist modernity, of exibility, freedom of choice, and the power of consumer also a result of the lack of rules, a constant need to negoti- demand. ey have been demonized for being pre-modern, unruly, overcrowded ate—hence to communicate, perform, and confront one anoth- and dangerous, while simultaneously representing locally divergent forms of soli- er, and to claim norms, identities, and desires. Marshrutkas darity, sociability, reciprocity, and sharing. adapt to occupy existing spaces and infrastructures, while they also transform and construct new spaces as they do so. ey bring vehicles together, but also people, commerce and knowledge. ey create rhythms, benchmarks, place names. Mar- Marshrutka Stories shrutkas are interwoven with local politics—subject to politi- cian’s promises of aordability and access, on the one hand, or removal and replacement on the other. rough it all, mar- A Visual Archive shrutkas drive on—and with consummate ease erase some of We devote this visual archive to the memory of Rustam Abdunazarov, the more enduring binaries between social processes and spatial our beloved colleague from Khudjand Tajikistan. forms that otherwise resist easy theoretical closure. We thank all the partners of the Marshrutka project: e following visual archive does no justice either to the com- PhD students: Tonio Weicker, Darkhan Medeuov, Cholpon Turdalieva, Mikheil Svanidze plexity of the marshrutka mobility phenomenon nor to the three year’s long research pursued by doctoral and post-doctoral Post-doctoral Researchers: Lela Rekhviashvili, Wladimir Sgibnev researchers of the Marshrutka Project, ocially known as ‘Fluid Doctoral Supervisors: Alima Bissenova, Emil Nasritdinov, Florian mobilities for cities in transformation: Spatial dynamics of mar- Mühlfried, Hans-Liudger Dienel, Ingeborg Baldauf, Joseph Salukvadze, Nabijon Rakhimov, Oksana Zaporozhets, Peter Lindner, Sebastian Lentz shrutkas in Central Asia and the Caucasus’, generously funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Instead, it oers a modest and Student Assistants: Clara Athenstaedt, Henri Schauer inconsistent collection of marshrutka-related stories and visuals. Exhibit Curators: Lela Rekhviashvili, Jesse Vogler It exposes a tiny share of the diversity of ways marshrutkas can be an entry point to understanding post-Soviet socio-spatial and political-economic transformations. The Marshrutka Project STORY Lela Rekhviashvili and Cholpon Turdalieva PHOTOS (L-R) Wladimir Sgibnev Khujand, Tajikistan 2016 Lela Rekhviashvili Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 2016 Risk and Competition ‘извини браток работа такая’ – ‘Sorry brother, Indeed, competing for passengers is a systemic fea- the job is like this’ is written on the back window of ture of the marshrutka mobility system. Drivers a marshrutka vehicle in Bishkek. This is an apology depend on farebox revenues for their income. Ride from one marshrutka driver to another, to drivers fares are extremely low in Bishkek, so to cover vehi- of buses, trolleybuses and private vehicles. The cle maintenance costs, official taxes and informal driver apologizes because he will overtake other ve- rents, and on top, to also earn a living, drivers are hicles, will speed up, will compete, will break rules. desperate for each passenger, engaging in risky driv- But at the same time he insists that no one should ing behaviour. All the while, drivers try to avoid ac- take it personally, it is his working environment that cidents at all costs, given that they have no vehicle shapes his driving habits. Passengers try to discour- insurance, no third party damage insurance and age drivers from speeding. ‘You don't carry fire- most probably no health insurance. The culture of wood’, ‘You go slower, we will come further’, or in reckless driving is hence conditional upon the struc- Kyrgyz ‘Shashkan shaitandyn ishi’ (‘you are like a tural features and constraints of the marshrutka devil when you are in a rush’) are the essential vo- mobility system. cabulary of marshrutka travel. Yet, to be sure, such proverbs rarely succeed in slowing down the pace of a marshrutka ride. ‘извини браток работа такая’ – ‘Sorry brother, Indeed, competing for passengers is a systemic fea- the job is like this’ is written on the back window of ture of the marshrutka mobility system. Drivers a marshrutka vehicle in Bishkek. This is an apology depend on farebox revenues for their income. Ride from one marshrutka driver to another, to drivers fares are extremely low in Bishkek, so to cover vehi- of buses, trolleybuses and private vehicles. The cle maintenance costs, official taxes and informal driver apologizes because he will overtake other ve- rents, and on top, to also earn a living, drivers are hicles, will speed up, will compete, will break rules. desperate for each passenger, engaging in risky driv- But at the same time he insists that no one should ing behaviour. All the while, drivers try to avoid ac- take it personally, it is his working environment that cidents at all costs, given that they have no vehicle shapes his driving habits. Passengers try to discour- insurance, no third party damage insurance and age drivers from speeding. ‘You don't carry fire- most probably no health insurance. The culture of wood’, ‘You go slower, we will come further’, or in reckless driving is hence conditional upon the struc- Kyrgyz ‘Shashkan shaitandyn ishi’ (‘you are like a tural features and constraints of the marshrutka devil when you are in a rush’) are the essential vo- mobility system. cabulary of marshrutka travel. Yet, to be sure, such proverbs rarely succeed in slowing down the pace of a marshrutka ride. STORY Tonio Weicker PHOTO Tonio Weicker Volgograd, Russia 2017 Subverting Illegality When, in the spring of 2017, the city administra- same time, the tediously enforced reforms of the tion of Volgograd started to abolish major parts of last decade—to modernise the vehicle fleet and to the marshrutka fleet with high public visibility, a bring private transport companies under the tax friend of mine told me: “Don’t worry, Tonio, they net—are being neglected. Therefore, it is the pas- will not close your research object. I promise you, sengers and drivers in particular who have to rely after the football championship, at the latest, mar- on an outlawed transport practice, and who take shrutkas will ride through the city as wild and cha- daily risks and face ruthless exploitation in the ab- otic as ever”. In hindsight, he was right and wrong sence of any legal control. However, my friend was at the same time. In fact, it took only a couple of right that the football championship would influ- days for the first abolished marshrutka drivers to ence the transport network as such: following the re-emerge under a new enterprise frame: officially tournament, as the shiny new buses began to grad- offering pre-booked ride services, but in reality ually disappear, it left space and demand for new working on the exact same route, in the same con- marshrutka lines to emerge, albeit, so far, on a ditions, and within the same time interval as before. non-formalised basis. The only exception was a small sign reading ‘zakaz- nyj’ (booked) on the marshrutka surface, which revealed the uncertain legal status of their daily enterprise. While the city council first called for a resolute ap- proach against illegal marshrutka drivers and entre- preneurs, soon, they had to recognise that the newly purchased substitute buses were unable to adequately respond to the daily transport demand in the city. As a result, ‘illegal’ marshrutka drivers continue to work in over 1000 un-registered vehicles in the city, and while tolerated, are left to informal structures of supply and organisation. At the Shifting Social Hierarchies A friend from Bishkek told me a story that, as a STORY young boy, he dreamed of growing up and earning Lela Rekhviashvili his own living, just to be able to avoid travelling on PHOTO marshrutkas. He had two reasons: he was and still Lela Rekhviashvili Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan is a tall, relatively large man, while marshrtuka inte- 2016 riors are often designed to fit as many people as possible. Imported, second-hand vehicles are locally repurposed from cargo into passenger vehicles. Vehicles with 8 to 10 person capacity are remade to accomodate up to 15 seated passengers, while up to 10 more might be standing in-between the seats.

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