In the 1990s, Moscow's streets were suffering from traffic congestion by private cars, which significantly interfered with public transport.

Vladimir Grigorievich Sister, the prefect of the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug, represented the Government of Moscow in the company.

On 3 August 1999, Luzhkov's decree 738-RP established a commission for the supervision of the monorail works in the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug.

At that time, Moscow competed for hosting Expo 2010 and a modern monorail could improve the image of the exhibition site.

To clear the space for the monorail subdivision of the depot, the museum exposition was first moved to a tram repair factory and then to a newly constructed building that opened in Strogino District on 10 September 1999.

The area was prepared for the construction, trees cut on the path of the future monorail and test drilling conducted.

On 15 October, tram service was restored on the route from All-Russia Exhibition Centre to the Ostankino TV center.

The decree 866-PP issued by the Moscow Government on 14 October 2003 described in detail the procedure of launching the monorail and provided the technical parameters.

[21] On 21 February, during a trial run near Ulitsa of the Academic Koroleva, one of the trains ripped off 15 metres (49 ft) of the third rail.

On 11 November, information surfaced that the only work that remained to be accomplished before the line could be launched in an excursion mode was the installation of the automated control system.

At that time the monorail was running two trains at 30-minute intervals while the only boarding and exiting station was Ulitsa Sergeya Eisensteina.

In July, the travel time from Timeryzevskaya to Ulitsa Sergei Eisensteina was cut down to about 22 minutes, the line's operating hours were extended to encompass 8:00 to 20:00 and the stations Vystavotchny Tsentr and Teletsentr were opened for passenger boarding and exiting.

Based on previous experience, the monorail was closed until 11 February, due to concern of a possible high voltage leak near the accident area.

[28] During the off-hours of 26 December 2006, approximately 400 metres (1,300 ft) of trolley cable was damaged between stations Vystavochny Tsentr and Ulitsa Sergeya Eisensteina.

In the beginning of 2007, Alexander Lebedev filed claims with the prosecutor of Moscow in regards to his beliefs that the government was making inefficient choices on budget matters in regards to the monorail.

The period of time that the monorail was in excursion mode launched several complaints against the Moscow Government that were similar to Lebedev's.

Discussion about the transition began in December after the addition of bridges connecting the platforms at normal stations to ease emergency flow.

[33] Also in December, a certificate was signed stating that the current owners of the monorail would be willing to transfer ownership to the Moscow government.

The Moscow City Government expanded in July 2008 the list of categories that entitled people to free use of the monorail services.

[37] Flat fare rose in 2010 to ₽26, the same as the Moscow Metro's, and tickets subsequently became valid on each transport mode from 1 January 2013.

Management of the monorail line can be carried out automatically from the computer control room located in the Bauman train depot.

If the fact that the existing number of rolling stock held by the Monorail and dimensions of the rolling stock built for the first section of the depot is taken into account, such statistics do not match the potential of at least eight times, because (according to data on the company's website) trains can be made up of 10 cars (just like current Moscow Subway lines), and subway lines usually have 42-44 trains running per hour, which would satisfy the monorail's passenger traffic of 38 thousand people, per hour in both directions (or 23 thousand an hour under the existing six-car arrangement), which means the monorail can at least handle the same amount of traffic as the "Light Metro" and could possibly handle the daily volume of the Filyovskaya metro line.

Along with financial problems,[44] the closure of the Moscow Museum of Mass Transit for the construction of the monorail depot was criticized.

Other residents complained about the change of the skyline after the construction of the Academica Koroleva Road station — they believe that the monorail track is not aesthetically pleasing and blocks the view across the street of the same name.

[45] A Moscow City government official stated in 2012 that the entire monorail would likely be closed and dismantled as it was unprofitable and did not perform to expectations.

[47] Other reports in September 2015 stated, however, that it was not clear if the Moscow city government would close only part of the monorail or completely shutter it.

[citation needed] Moscow city officials announced in May 2017 plans to shut down the monorail and replace with tram service.

Plans stipulate dismantling part of its elevated structure starting in 2018, and converting the standing remainder to handle tram tracks.

The result of the Intamin Transportation Ltd. system shows that the monorail structure was chosen because of the declared low construction cost and a good look.

The recommendation of the Academy of municipal services made in 60s banning monorails from outside the south regions of the USSR, was ignored.