Russian cities fertile ground for new mobility services, particularly shared mobility

Few cultural artefacts speak to the transformation of Russia’s economy more emphatically than Pizza Hut’s infamous 1997 commercial featuring Mikhail Gorbachev. In the commercial, the former Soviet leader arrives with his granddaughter at a Pizza Hut near Red Square. Inside, he is recognised by a young man and his middle-aged companion, who begin to argue over what Gorbachev’s programme of Perestroika has brought to Russia. ‘Opportunity’, and ‘freedom’, says the former. ‘Political instability’, and ‘complete chaos’, argues the latter. Eventually, they agree on one thing: Pizza Hut. For this, the last General Secretary of the Communist Party receives a standing ovation.