Public Transport

There are several types of public transport in our city:

• Metro;
• Bus;
• Trolleybus;
• Route taxi;
• Tram.

• morning rush hours: 8:00am-9:00am;
• evening rush hours: 5:30pm-7:30pm.

We would not recommend you to ride any public transport at that time.

Bus, trolleybus and and tram have fixed routes and stops. They stop on each stop and you do not need to press any buttons to signal the driver about your wish to take off (some intercity or suburban routes have some request stops). Each stop has a plate with numbers of transport, that stops there. Some of such plates has timetables on their back (it is more common for intercity or suburban routes). Routes are numbered with one, two, three-digit numbers (ex.: 7; 76; 118). Fare (about $0.20) should be paid to a conductor he/she will come to you and ask for money and give you a ticket (small price of very thin gray paper with serial number). Keep it until you get off. One ticket is valid for one ride.

State bus (trolleybus, tram) drivers have very small salarys, but they do their job day by day anyway. Traffic in St-Petersburg is hard and aggressive, roads are very bad, and most buses (trolley buses, trams) are very old. It makes their work nervous and tense. Respect their work, please: do not avoid to pay for your ride and try not to be exasperated every time the bus jumps on tussocks and pits or stops drastically — drivers do all their best.

Most buses, trolley buses and trams are very old and ugly-looking, especially if they go not in the center of the city. All the public transport does not have certain color, so you can see buses of all colors; most of them are covered with advertisements.

Be attentive in the public transport — beware of pickpockets. It is said they "work" near the doors. Avoid rides at rush hours.

There is one more kind of bus — route taxi. These are small buses (for about 10-15 sits, not certainly yellow), that follow their routes, but they can stop everywhere to let you get off or to pick you up. Usually you pay the driver as you enter, and you also should warn him when you are going to get off. Fare is about a couple rubles more expensive then in an ordinary bus (probably, the driver will not give you a ticket — it is normal). These small buses go much faster then the ordinary ones. They are also overcrowded at rush hours. Routes of the route taxis are usually copies of the routes of ordinary buses, so the numbers of routes of route taxis are added with letters (ex. T-1; 286E).