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Transportation
The network of public transportation in St. Petersburg is quite extensive. The resources of public transportation are quite over-stretched, and most public transport is not particularly user-friendly. Nonetheless, the metro is a very reliable and cost-effective way of medium and long-distance transportation. It is also good for journeys within the downtown area. For the shorter trips you are more likely to use trams, buses and trolleybuses, or taxis. If you come on business or with a large family, you might also consider renting a car or a van (with driver or without).
Metro
St. Petersburg 's metro is perhaps not as majestic as the one in Moscow , yet it looks more impressive than most other subways and undergrounds of the world. It is also the deepest subway in the world. Despite the recent funding problems the metro is still the most reliable city transport (particularly convenient for long-distance journeys). Normally trains arrive every 2-3 minutes, with slightly longer waiting periods early in the morning and late at night. Note the changes in the metro opening times: on average the stations open at about 5:45 am and close between midnight and 0:30 am. You can transfer from one line to the other till 0:15 am.
Unless you buy a monthly pass (called kartochka or proyezdnoy) you pay by tokens, which can be purchased at special counters or booths located at every station. These booths also sell monthly metro passes.
There are two types of entry gates at metro stations, but the old ones quickly disappear. New gates accept both tokens and monthly / 10 journey passes, while in the past you had to use different gates.
To enter the metro do the following: insert your monthly/1-10 journey plastic pass into the slot of a gate. When the card is ejected, walk through. If you have any problems with a gate, take your card to the member of station staff on duty, who can normally be found in a glass booth near the entry gates.
Orientation
St. Petersburg 's metro has four lines which are numbered and assigned specific colors on a metro map .
Line #1 is Red, Line #2 - Blue, Line #3 - Green and, finally, Line #4 is Yellow.
Line 1 has the most beautiful stations and Anastasia web recommends it for "metro sightseeing".
Taxi
St. Petersburg does not have as many taxis as New York or London , but there are still plenty of taxis in the street, catering both for budget travelers and the "nouveau riche". Perhaps to confuse you, taxis are marked in a very diverse fashion.
Here is how you can identify a taxi:
- some taxis are painted bright yellow
- some taxis have an orange checkered light on the roof
- some taxis have green lights in the upper-left corner of windshield and the light is on when the cab is available
- the more expensive taxis might have yellow "Taksi" signs on the roof.
Nowadays taxi services are offered by an array of licensed companies. Normally all cabs have meters and you pay for your ride by kilometer.
068 - Petersburg Taxi
Company "068 - Petersburg Taxi" offers taxi service with standard and higher-end class cars including Volga , Audi and Nissan cars. Just dial 068
6 Chapigino Ulitsa
068, +7 812 380-6777
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