You can get around Saint Petersburg by public transport (metro, buses, trolleybuses, and trams) and by private commercial transport (buses, minibusses, and taxis). The city doesn’t have a light rail system. The best way is a subway, the best way for paying is a travel card or a time-limited ticket that enables payment across all types of public transport.
This page was UPDATED in February 2021.
Introduction: What Public And Commercial Transports Are
There are two kinds of buses in St. Petersburg. Public buses are operated by the city’s company, and the private ones are owned by private companies. Often they all run along the same routes. The difference here is in fare and the fact that private buses do not provide any special prices, discounts to students, disabled people, retirees, etc., and the fare here is higher. The commercial buses all are marked with the letter K (or T) as on the photos below, for example, K-1, K-154.
People call the commercial buses «marshrutka» (single) and «marshrutki» (plural) originative from the Russian word «marshrut» (route).
Unlike public kinds of transport, commercial ones can stop at any spot you want along the route, you just have to ask a driver in advance. Public buses stop only at official stops.
There are two types of commercial buses: large ones and minibusses, below in the picture.
The only difference between the two types of commercial buses is their size, and sometimes the small ones are a bit faster.
There are also trolleybuses and trams. Most of the residents use the subway and commercial buses.
For subway, read our detailed guide on how to use metro in St. Petersburg.
The public transport system in St. Petersburg works from 06:00 till 00:00, some routes start a bit earlier and stop a bit later. On some days when the subway is on 24 hours. From April 15 till late autumn on Friday/Saturday and on Saturday/Sundays, night buses go along the subway lines.
There is no difference between workdays and weekends in the work of the transport system.
For taxi, read our post article with fares from and to some key spots in the city.
Fares in Saint Petersburg And Kinds Of Travel Cards
How to pay. For commercial buses, there are two options. 1. You pay when entering. That’s right for about 90% of all commercial routes. You can see a sign Оплата при входе (Pay when enter). The money is given to a driver. 2. You pay when exit. In this case a sign reads Оплата при выходе (Pay when exit).
Public transport provides the same options. The money is given to a fare collector that sells you a ticket on the bus or the fare is collected by a driver in the front part of a bus.
St. Petersburg’s transport system doesn’t use zone-limited tickets for a single trip or any other kind of travel within the city, such tickets are applied only for distant suburbs. The entire city is a single zone, and you pay the same amount of money, no matter how far you travel, two stops or more. But that’s right only for one trip. When you exit one vehicle and enter another one (for a transfer), you have to pay again.
Fares in St. Petersburg (rubles) as of January, 1, 2021:
Single trip in
• Public bus — 55
• Trolleybus — 55
• Tram — 55
• Metro (subway) — 60
• Commercial bus / minibus — 40 — 50 within the city
Types Of Travel Cards
There is a lot of options here, we recommend two of them:
— Podorozhnik travel card;
— a time-limited travel pass for 1, 3, or 7 days.
The Podorozhnik travel card (on the photo, in English ribwort) is valid both for overground transport modes and for the subway and suburban trains. It works as an electronic wallet: you pay for the card 60 rubles, deposit to it some money up to 15.000 rubles, and pay when traveling by touching a turnstile in the subway or holding it in front of a validator in a bus/trolleybus/tram. The card gives you a discount for a ride. At the moment of payment, you can see a card balance on a screen of a validator.
The cost of a ride when paying by Podorozhnik travel card in 2021:
• Public bus — 36
• Trolleybus — 36
• Tram — 36
• Metro (subway) — 41
There are no discounts for Podorozhnik holders on suburban trains and commercial busses.
The money deposited on the card is valid for three years from the time of deposit.
Purchase it at the ticket office at any subway station.
You can deposit money both at the ticket-offices and online through payment by credit card or some e-money systems.
Official site of the card: http://podorozhnik.spb.ru/en (in English)
To recharge the card online: http://ispp.spbmetropoliten.ru/ (only in Russian)
Travel passes for 1, 3 and 7 days are available for unlimited travel on all public transports: bus, trolleybus, tram, and subway.
Prices of travel passes in St. Petersburg for 2021:
1 day — 240 rubles
3 days — 460 rubles
7 days — 815 rubles
Very important note: payment by any type of travel card, be it a Podorozhnik or a time-limited pass, is much lower than paying for a single ride in cash or through a purchase of a subway token.
Please, notice that the travel passes limited by time are not valid at commercial mini-buses (marshrutkas) marked with the sign K.
❗️ Here you can find the description of all the types of travel cards in St. Petersburg.
International, Inner Russian Bus Routes
Ecolines bus
Bus routes to other Russian cities, towns of Leningradskaya, Pskovskaya, Novgorodskaya regions (including top destinations Novgorod, Vyborg, Ivangorod) as well as to some other countries, i. e. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland are landed at a few spots in the city.
1. The Central Coach Station (in Russian Автовокзал or Avtovokzal).
Address: 36, Obvodny canal embankment. The nearest subway station: Obvodny Kanal. Website: www.avokzal.ru
tel.: +7 812 405 75 17, +7 812 766 57 77, an inquiry office +7 812 645 14 14, daily 8:00 – 20:00, break 13:00 — 14:00.
+7 812 405 75 16, +7 812 405 75 19, +7 812 766 36 44, work-days 8:00 – 16:00, break 12:00 — 13:00 (these phones don’t work on weekends and holidays).
Ticket offices are open 06.30 – 23.00, the international ticket office is closed for a break 12.00-13.00
email: info@avokzal.ru
2. The branch of the Central Coach Station Parnas (northern part of the city, subway station Parnas)
Address: 3rd Verkhniy alleyway, tel.: +7 812 458 85 09
3. The Coach Station Devyatkino operated by the Leningrad region’s bus company (north-eastern part of the city, subway station Devyatkino)
Address: village of Murino, Vokzalnaya street, 1, tel.: +7 812 242 89 09
4. Some buses depart from Baltiysky and Vitebsky railway stations.
The routes to the rest of Russia and other countries are served by a few different companies including Europe-wide brands Ecolines and Lux Express. There is no division of destinations between the stations, it’s often the case that you can take a bus to the same town from any spot or at least two of them. The best way to get information about which bus station you need to get to your destination is to ask us, and we will help.
Long-Distance and Suburban Trains To / From Saint Petersburg
Suburban trains
All the trains come to and depart from five railway stations: Moskovsky, Vitebsky, Ladozhsky, Baltiysky, and Finlyandsky. Long-distance trains are operated by Russian Railways (РЖД/RZD) and some routes by private companies. Short-distance trains are operated by North-Western suburban passenger company.
For detailed information on the Petersburg’s railway stations see our post here.
If you have any questions about St. Petersburg, ask us here
You can easily book excursions online through an international aggregator which secures your payment in your currency and a seat and ensures a safe deal: