Transportation in Moscow

Taxi
Official taxis are recognisable by their chequerboard logo on the side and/or a small green light in the windscreen. Many private cars cruise around as unofficial taxis, known as 'gypsy cabs'.

Don't hesitate to wave on a car if you don't like the look of its occupants. As a general rule, it's best to avoid riding in cars with more than one person. Be particularly careful taking a taxi that is waiting outside a nightclub or bar.

If you book a taxi over the phone (hotel staff will do this for you if you don't speak Russian), the dispatcher will normally ring back within a few minutes to provide a description and license number of the car. It's best to provide at least an hour's notice before you need the taxi. Some reliable taxi companies (with websites in Russian only):

- Central Taxi Reservation Office (Tsentralnoe Byuro Zakazov Taxi; 495-627 0000; www.cbz-taxi.ru)
- MV Motors (495-232 5232; www.7756775.ru)
- New Yellow Taxi (495-940 8888; www.nyt.ru)
- Taxi Bistro (495-961 0041; www.taxopark.ru)
- Taxi Blues (495-105 5115; www.taxi-blues.ru)

Metro
The Moscow metro (www.mosmetro.ru) is the easiest, quickest and cheapest way of getting around Moscow. Many of the elegant stations are marble-faced, frescoed, gilded works of art. The trains are generally reliable: you will rarely wait on the platform more than three minutes. Nonetheless, trains get packed during rush hour.

The 150-plus stations are marked with large 'M' signs. Magnetic tickets are sold at ticket booths (R19). It's useful to buy a multiple-ride ticket (10 rides for R155, 20 for R280), which saves you the hassle of queuing up every time.

Stations have maps of the system and signs on each platform showing the destination. Maps are generally in Cyrillic and Latin script, although the signs are usually only in Cyrillic.

Read more about Transportation in Moscow from the Lonely Planet Guide.

Source: www.lonelyplanet.com