莫斯科救護車變身豪華出租車 高價爲VIP服務
因報道稱莫斯科一些救護車經內部改裝後以高價出租爲商務人士提供出行服務，莫斯科警方將於近期對救護車開展專項檢查。同時，警方也發現網絡上已有所謂“救護出租車”的廣告，每小時收費高達6000盧布（約合194美元）。莫斯科的主幹道和環路經常因爲亂停車和不守規矩的駕駛行爲而持續擁堵，救護車出行時可以通過警笛聲讓其他車輛讓路，這一優勢被不少趕時間的商務人士看重。據報道，此前已有交警在執勤時發現此類“救護出租車”，車內裝飾豪華，所有人均着便裝且不願透露身份。爲了緩解莫斯科交通擁堵，俄羅斯總統普京已表示大部分時間會在家辦公，以減少出行時的交通管制；而俄羅斯總理梅德韋傑夫則表示會多選擇直升機出行。
Police in Moscow are to carry out special checks on ambulances after reports that emergency vehicles have been fitted with plush interiors and are being rented out to VIP commuters hoping to dodge the city's abysmal traffic jams.
Random checks will be performed on the vehicles after companies advertising rides in "ambulance-taxis" for upwards of 6,000 roubles (£120 or $194) per hour appeared on the internet.
The vehicles are said to use their sirens to scatter traffic and deliver harried businessman to meetings on time.
A law enforcement source told Izvestiya newspaper that one such vehicle had already been identified. "During one patrol, a medical car was stopped because it was breaking traffic rules," said the source.
"The driver appeared strange, and did not resemble an ambulance driver at all. The police officers opened the automobile to check it and saw that the interior was fitted out like a high-class limousine with comfortable seats for transporting VIP passengers." The source added that inside the ambulance were "not medical personnel but some people in civilian clothes who refused to identify themselves."
Moscow's boulevards and ring-roads often stand still because of ill-parked cars and no restrictions on driving in the city centre. The foul-ups are compounded when police block off roads for official cortèges such as that of Vladimir Putin, who causes gridlock when travelling to and from the Kremlin in his Mercedes Pullman.
In October, Mr Putin's spokesman said the president would spend more time working at his home, the Novo-Ogarevo estate to the west of the city, to avoid producing bottlenecks. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's office said he would be travelling more frequently by helicopter.
