Learning St. Petersburg’s public transport network is a must for all international students. It’s necessary to get accustomed to the twists and turns of mass transit. This will help them navigate the roads on their own in the fastest time possible.
In St. Petersburg, it’s important to understand the costs and the modes of transportation available. Studying routes is also essential in case you have to travel back and forth to the same destination.
Fortunately, if you can’t read the Cyrillic script, you can find metro station names written in English. But be mindful when boarding buses and minibuses as you need to have more refined Russian skills to interact.
Here are more public transportation tips for international students in St. Petersburg:
Get the Transport Card “Podorozhnik”
Instead of paying in cash, get the Podorozhnik. This is an electronic card that allows you to pay your fare on the metro, trams, and buses.
As of writing, you need to charge the card with at least a $0.83 deposit. The more you use it, the more discounts you get (for your first 10 trips of the month).
To use it on the bus, simply tap it against the orange box and take your seat. Don’t be surprised when a conductor asks to scan your card – it’s only to check if you’ve paid already.
Familiarize With the Transport Routes
St. Petersburg metro is one of the simplest networks in the world. You only need to learn five metro lines, each identified by a distinct color. Plus, the detailed map isn’t complicated to understand but it can still take a whole to learn.
As per buses and trams, they’re all over the city and easy to spot. A sign on the bus will let you know what route it’s taking, but it’s written in Cyrillic. Knowing this, you can instead search for the route online beforehand.
Don’t Mind the Cost
All rides cost the same regardless of your destination. So it doesn’t matter if you’ve only moved a street to the next or three districts down – it all costs the same.
As of writing any trip using the metro costs $0.25. On any other surface transport, the fare costs $0.45.
Learn Common Phrases on a Marshrutka
Riding the marshrutka is convenient if you want to get to places that the metro, buses, or trams can’t exactly reach. These rides also have routes like a bus, but they operate more like a taxi with how they pick up and drop off passengers.
Since you have to ask the driver to stop, you must learn how to say “Остановите здесь, пожалуйста” (ahs-tah-na-VEE-tee zdyes’ pah-ZHA-loo-stuh), which means “Please stop” or “Stop here, please.”
Knowing certain tips on how to navigate the mass transit system in St. Petersburg is important for international students like you. If you want to learn more about the specifics of life in Russia, you can check out our other articles here at MSM Unify.
