Moscow on a bus

Typical bus for getting around

Being a closet snob, I have always hated and tried to avoid using public transport of any kind. I try to only use it if the public transport is exotic like a Tuk tuk in Bangkok or a river boat trip down a lily covered river. Marshrutka's the yellow buses (also available in white) are a cheap way to get around Moscow. I am only human and therefor forced to use buses and like everyone else, I have to share my private body space with others to get around this big city. Moscow is jam packed with people and with cars, any transport is difficult and time consuming. The metro is fast and efficient but can only go to a certain point on your journey. You can either drive in your own car, take a taxi or walk. I don't recommend driving or taking a taxi unless it's on a weekend and unless you absolutely have to. 

These yellow buses are not luxury, modern or very comfortable but they are regular and very cheap. They are driven by men from far away places, that used to be part of the happy family that was the 'USSR'. Wait on the pavement and then get on the bus that you need. If you don't speak Russian, get a friend to tell you what bus to get on and where to get off. The bus I take costs just 25 rubles. Try to have the correct change and put your money on the blanket, that's next to the driver and find a seat. Some buses stink of petrol and the seats are often dirty and ripped. The buses can get fairly full and sometimes you will be like a sardine in a petrol can, gasping for fresh air. I always get stuck sat next to a person that has either drunk many beers, not washed for a week or who ate two hundred garlic cloves for breakfast. These people could scare away Dracula or advertise soap products. Sit next to a window, open it fully and breath.

I always get on a yellow bus with the number (just for example) 120 going to the last bus stop. Sometimes it goes there and sometimes is does not. On three or four occasions, it did not go to the end, to the last stop but stopped well before it. I got off the bus and was told by the driver that I must get on another yellow bus with the same number 120 but get on a bigger yellow bus as only the big yellow ones go to the last bus stop. The little ones(see photo above), same colour, same number, stop well before the end stop. This week, I found that it's true, only the big yellow ones go to the end. I know this seems crazy but it's true. Russian logic strikes again. Laugh here or you will cry or go mad. I don't make this shit up.

If you don't want to take a yellow bus, try a trolley buses they are bigger and can even be modern! Pay the driver about 26 rubles and he or she will give you a ticket, stick the ticket into the machine and find a seat. In Moscow, taking a bus can be slower than walking. Idiot, arrogant drivers, park along the sides of the huge roads, sometimes double parking, so the buses get blocked behind them. The buses stop at every bus stop and there seems to be a bus stop every few meters, so journeys can be slow and worse during the rush hour. You can always get on a trolley bus or yellow bus and get off if it gets stuck in traffic and walk. 

In a perverse way, I quiet like taking the yellow buses, you get to see real people, real Russians and on a good traffic free day, the buses fly along the road at high speed so it can be an adventure and a fairground ride of death. You will be shaken around like a pea in a tin, thrown up in the air as the bus goes over road ramps, flung against your fellow passenger as the bus goes around the corner. My advice is listen to calming music and look out the window, your journey will be a lot more pleasant.  The Moscow bus system was deigned for a different Moscow. It was designed for a Moscow of the last century when there was less traffic and the nation had a dream and an ideal to aim for, even if it was badly flawed. Few people owned cars and the roads were a lot better than they are today, almost empty if you look at old photos of Moscow. Days now long gone.

Poor old Moscow is creaking to a halt, the authorities refuse to act to reduce the traffic and Russia is the number one customer for sales in Land Rover, Bentley and other huge gas guzzling cars. Despite their faults, I think taking a bus is a lot better than taking the a metro train. On a bus, you get daylight and can open a window to breath clean traffic air that is better than metro tunnel air, you can usually get a seat and have better personal space. If you live on a bus route that's direct, take the bus and ditch the metro.

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