Taxies Take You Everywhere

1999 > Russia

I love Russian taxis!

Moscow has the world greatest metro system, but it is not
always the most convenient. It can be a bit far to the closest station, with
the last trains leaving the center of the city around 12:30 am, so an alternative
transportation system exists. If you are in a hurry, and want to see the
city on your way, you can “hire a car” as they say here, or take a taxi,
as we would say.

a line forms!The practice arose when there were very few cars
and many would-be passengers who needed to get somewhere. You merely go to
the roadside and flag down a car by pointing to the middle of the street.
Quite soon a car will stop (in the center of Moscow, a line will form) and
you tell the driver where you want to go and how much you are willing to
pay. If he agrees, you get in and off you go. If he doesn’t like the destination
or the price, you can haggle, or try your luck with the next car.

Here a woman has two taxis waiting on her.

The ride is usually very uneventful, with you and the driver flying along
in silence. If you are traveling with a friend, you can continue the conversation
without the driver and not be rude. Once you reach your destination, you
pay the man (women drivers are extremely rare), and you’re on your way.

At something between $2-10 depending on the length of the trip and the time
of day/night, it is a quick but a little pricey way to get around the city.
As far as safety is concerned, everyone I know, from single Russian women,
to Russian-ignorant expats jump in and go, with the only real threat posed
by the driver’s incompetence or intoxication. Now the standard rules apply
of course, you don’t get into a car with two drunk men in the front seat
and ask them to take you to a dark corner of the city as you count your $100
bills, and expect to arrive home without incident.

I enjoy my taxi rides, chatting with the drivers about the universal male
quandary, women, and checking out the views of this beautiful city.

The Moscow Times, December 30, 1998

The Passenger’s Guide to Driving in Moscow

By Nick Allen

“Priyekhali!” my driver muttered with a curse as we came to a sudden halt
beside the offices of The Moscow Times (“we’ve arrived”). 1 sheepishly handed
over the 30 rubies we had agreed on for the journey. Sheepishly since we
had just hit another car at 50 kilometers per hour after it pulled out in
front of us, ricocheted across the road and crumpled into the back of a parked
Mitsubishi sports utility vehicle.

Such are the hazards facing all voditeli (drivers) in Mosco’w, where traffic
regulations apparently exist to be broken, but particularly the chastniki,
gypsy-cab drivers, or peopie who make a bit of spare cash running people
about town. Some drivers do nothing else but bombit or cruise around all
day looking for fares.

If you feel confident about travcling this way – there is after all always
a degree of risk involved – then it’s easy enough to ostanovil, or poimat,
mashinii (stop or catch a car). Just stand by the roadside and golosovat
(“vote”).by holding out your arm. If there is a rule of thumb in this game,
it is make sure you take. cars with no more than one person, the driver,
inside.

When a car stops, there are various ways of asking for a ride. Try Ne podvezyotye
na Tversktiyti .Ulitsii? (Will you drop me off on Tverskaya Ulitsa?) or Mne
na Tverskiiyu/do aeroporta (1 want to go to Tverskaya Ulitsa/the airport).
If the driver is willing to go that way, you then have to dogovorit’sya o
tsenye (agree on a price). People usually ask Skol’ko daditye (How much will
you give). Once that’s agreed, he will say sadis/sadityes (sit down, or get
in). When pressed for time, you can say. Kak mozhno bystreye (as fast
as possible). In this case know the word ostorozhno! (Watch out!).

As you set off you may be asked nakin’/nakin’lye remen'(throw your scatbeft
across you), to avoid being, fined by the traffic police.. This is not the
same as fastening your seatbelt, zasiegnut’ remen,, (Most drivers don’t
understand why in the world you would want to actually fasten it, 1 read
somewhere that a person has been in Russian too long when he finds himself
refraining from fastening his seatbelt so as not to offend the driver.)

Words to know en route are probka and zator, which are both traffic jams,
and mnogo/majo dvizheniya (heavy/light traffic). As you approach your
destination it will-help to know,also v kontsye/nachalye ulitsy (at the
end/beginning of the street),pered svetoforom, or u/posle svetofora (before
the traffic lights or at/after the traffic lights) and za ugol (round the
corner).

And to stop without the assistance of a parked Mitsubishi, just say ostanovitye’s
zdes’ pozhaluista (stop here, please).

Jan 9 1999 From AFP via Johnson’s Russia List

Russians take up “taxi-driving” to make ends meet

SAINT PETERSBURG, – Sergei became an unofficial “taxi-driver” five years
ago to make ends meet, and for him and for many other hard-up Russians, their
car is now their only source of income. Sergei spent all of New Year’s Eve
at the wheel of his car, plying the streets of Saint Petersburg looking for
fares. “Here in Russia, hitchhiking in the traditional sense, where someone
gives you a free lift, does not exist,” he said. “If you make a thumbs up
sign on the side of the road, it means you are prepared to pay.”

Many professional chauffeurs employed by companies and government ministries
make extra cash by using their vehicles as “taxis” when they are off duty.
“Since the financial crisis in August, there has only been myself and my
car to rely on,” said Vladimir, 49, who has lost his job.

In one night, an unlicensed taxi driver in Saint Petersburg can earn between
100 and 150 rubles (five and seven dollars, four and six euros) — fares
being higher at night than during the day. Often drivers stop on the off
chance to pick up passengers along their usual route home or at bus stops,
outside hotels or restaurants. The cost of a ride with them is always cheaper
than in a real taxi.

Anatoly, 32, who owns a Ford Scorpio, takes paying passengers just “to pay
for petrol”, but for Alexei Fyodorov, 50, his “taxi” business is what keeps
him and his family from going hungry. His ramshackle Moskovich “feeds the
whole family,” he said. A few years ago during the Soviet era, Fyodorov,
who is a qualified craftsmen had no money problems. “My salary was very high
and my wife did not work,” he said. “Today, the forge has closed down and
the skilled workers are all out of jobs,” he said.

But moonlighting as a taxi-driver is not without its dangers too. According
to official statistics, such drivers run the highest risk of being attacked
and robbed. Alexei, who was the victim of a hold-up a year ago, said that
today he was more careful whom he let into his car. Nowadays, “every driver
has something to defend himself with, a gun or a baton,” he said.