transport.r2.ru was a Nizhny Novgorod site for a chauffeured car rental service that operated under the name "Transport Services in Nizhny Novgorod" and was listed in the nn.ru directory under the /rub/ section[1]. The site aimed its services primarily at out-of-town visitors: as its home page stated, the project offered "transport service for guests of the city in Nizhny Novgorod and the surrounding oblast"[1].

What the site offered

The home page described a single service — car rental with a driver — and two regular routes: a "Airport — City" transfer and a Railway Station (Vokzal)[1]. Service was provided using two cars: a "Toyota Corolla" with a right-hand drive and air conditioning, and a "Mersedes Benz 190", as the site itself called it[1]. Both cash and non-cash payment were accepted, and prices were quoted in conventional units (u.e.): an hour of rental cost 5 u.e., the minimum order was one hour plus an hour for the car's arrival and return, a transfer from the airport cost 15 u.e., and one from the railway station cost 10 u.e.[1] Orders were taken by email at auto-nn@mail.ru, and the page also carried "Email" and "Guest Book" links — the usual set for sites of that era, a feedback form and a general guestbook-style forum[1]. By 2002 the content of the home page had not changed: the same text, the same rates, and the same email address were reproduced in the next archived snapshot as well[2].

Place in the Nizhny Novgorod internet

According to the Counter.nn.ru, the site had a score of 19.0 points[1]; no votes for it are recorded in our DNI-2004 data. The domain was known mainly through its directory listing on nn.ru in the transport services section, rather than through traffic of its own[1] — a characteristic example of a narrowly-focused commercial site within the structure of the Nizhny Novgorod Internet of the early 2000s.

How the site closed

The first preserved snapshot of the home page is dated 27 July 2001[1], and another snapshot with the same unchanged text was captured in 2002[2]. According to later web archive data, the domain itself eventually ceased to exist, and at some point the address transport.r2.ru redirected to the site webservis.ru. There is no separate announcement of the service's closure on the preserved pages — the site disappeared as quietly as it had operated, leaving behind only its unchanging text with prices in conventional units and an email address on mail.ru.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)