Transportation in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg moves on three tiers: the metro for speed, trams and buses for reach, and marshrutkas (shared minibuses) for filling gaps. The metro is fast, stations are spaced far apart, so trains hit cruising speed, and a single ride costs pocket change. Buy a Podorozhnik card at any station. It works on every surface route too and spares you the exact-change scramble. Trams rattle along the historic avenues and are good for short hops when the weather's decent, while buses cover the outer districts the metro skips. Marshrutkas run the same routes as buses but leave when full and stop on request. Locals love them, but they're easy to overpay if you don't watch what others hand the driver. From Pulkovo Airport, the city bus (№ 39) is the cheap choice and drops you at Moskovskaya metro station in about 20 minutes. From there it's a straight ride north to the center. Taxis are a splurge but make sense late at night when the bus stops running, use the official airport taxi desk or a ride-hailing app to avoid the curbside sharks who quote fantasy fares. Skip the "tourist express" vans that loiter outside arrivals. They cost multiples of the regular bus and crawl through traffic.