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reen
Frequent Guest
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 15
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 Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 3:03 am Post subject: buses not safe? |
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i got an e-mail today from a friend of the family, who lives in st petersburg, with some advice on what to do and what not to do while there. one of the things he strongly advises against is traveling by bus (metro and registered taxis being ok). i found that a bit surprising as i remember taking the bus by myself to and from school at the age of 8, in moscow. that was quite a while ago, though. have things changed that much? what makes buses unsafe?
cheers.
reen |
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wu687
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 18 Jul 2003
Posts: 199
Location: Victoria BC, Canada
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 5:49 am Post subject: |
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| I have never had any trouble on either the mini-buses or the regular buses. I guess at rush hour when the buses are crowded I would watch out for the pickpocketers, but as for safety I would not worry. |
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Camrade
VIP
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 516
Location: Санкт-Петербург
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 9:12 am Post subject: |
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Just watch your bags and pockets in overcrowded buses and everything will be ok...  |
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dag68
Just Starting
Joined: 13 Jul 2005
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:50 am Post subject: |
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My wife and I spent 8 days in St. Petersburg in early July. We used the buses quite a bit and found them very convenient and very cheap. Watch your belongings very carefully, though. We got on one bus heading down nevsky prospect and it was very crowded by the doors. We moved through the crowd to a less congested part and a guy was blocking my way. I looked down to find his hand in my pocket. I grabbed his hand, squeezing his fingers as hard as I could while shouting, in english "get your hand out of my pocket, buddy!" He didn't get anything. I moved past him and no one semed to notice or care, including the conductor. In fact he was still on the bus when we reached our stop!
I had seem something similar a day before on the bus between a german woman and a young guy.
Even so, I would still recommend the bus. |
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Vic
Talk Show Host
Joined: 29 Mar 2005
Posts: 298
Location: Moscow, Russian Federation
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| Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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| dag68 wrote: | | We moved through the crowd to a less congested part and a guy was blocking my way. I looked down to find his hand in my pocket. I grabbed his hand, squeezing his fingers as hard as I could while shouting, in english "get your hand out of my pocket, buddy!" He didn't get anything. |
Ooops, is that my hand in your pocket?  |
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cdnexpat
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 86
Location: Afghanistan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:16 pm Post subject: |
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I agree that public transport in St-Petersburg is inexpensive and fun and safe. Taxis are expensive, but private cars are not. But you have to negotiate. You definitely need to read Cyrilic and speak a little to go around by yourself. Otherwise it will be difficult. I did not encounter any picpockets, but I hear that they are there, just as in Rome and Amsterdam.
Cheers,
Bob |
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CHeburashka
Talk Show Host
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 218
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:24 pm Post subject: |
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Pickpockets can be found in any crowded central place in metroplitan areas, regardless of the country. Especially when it's touristic, as tourists are well-known to be extremely naive extentions of their wallets.
Did you for instance know that The Vatican, the holy state of the catholic church is actually the most criminal country in the world? Highest crime % per inhabitant  And worst statistics too when it comes to solving crimes. |
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mister_wizzz
VIP
Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 582
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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Right, don't think there are more pickpockets in Moscow than in Paris.
About the Vatican where did you get this info ?
The Vatican inhabitants are few hundreds cardinals, priests and swiss guards 
BTW the Vatican is one of the most secret country in the world, if some crimes occurs nobody would know. |
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CHeburashka
Talk Show Host
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 218
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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| Well i guess the crimes are just dealt with by Rome's police force. Mostly it's petty crimes like pickpocketing etc around St. Peter's square of course. The high amount of people that come there in relation to the small population gives the country a crime rate of about 150%. Worthless statistic of course, but I just used it as an illustration on the tourism/crime combination. I don't remember the actual news source. Can look it up if you want to know. |
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CHeburashka
Talk Show Host
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 218
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:13 pm Post subject: Vatican crime rate sours |
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here is the full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2639777.stm
| Quote: | The world's smallest country - the Vatican - has one of the highest crime rates in the world, a report said.
The report, for the year 2002, was presented to the pontifical court by the state's Chief Prosecutor, Nicola Picardi.
CRIME FACTS
397 civil offences - crime rate of 87.2%
608 criminal offences - crime rate of 133.6%
Population: Just over 500
Size: 0.44 sq km (108 acres)
Mr Picardi said that criminal offences per capita were more than 20 times higher than in neighbouring Italy.
St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican museums provide a kind of earthly paradise for pickpockets, the report said.
Other crimes included embezzlement, fraud and insulting the police and civil servants.
The last time a serious crime was committed in the Vatican was in 1998 when a disgruntled Swiss Guard shot dead his commander and his commander's wife before killing himself. |
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mister_wizzz
VIP
Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 582
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 4:16 pm Post subject: |
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ok, the high crime rate is not coming from Vatican inhabitant but from visitors...
About the Swiss guard murders and his suicide, I heard about this, the mother of this swiss guard didn't beleive in her son responsabily and she paid a private detective for investigation and it seemed obvious the official Vatican version was fake.
The commander and his wife has been killed for dark reasons, seems the young swiss guard "has been suicided" because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. |
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cdnexpat
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 86
Location: Afghanistan
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 5:53 pm Post subject: |
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| A friend of mine was visiting Rome with his wife, when two gorgeous ladies came to them to ask directions. One was kind of rubbing against him as they talked. Sure enough, after they left, the wallet was there no more... |
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CHeburashka
Talk Show Host
Joined: 23 Sep 2005
Posts: 218
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| Posted: Mon Sep 26, 2005 6:59 pm Post subject: |
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| He got a cold shower from his wife as well after that i bet... |
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cdnexpat
Lounge Lizard
Joined: 19 Sep 2005
Posts: 86
Location: Afghanistan
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| Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 8:26 am Post subject: |
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| Hot tongue and cold shoulder?... |
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petro-guy
Just Starting
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:17 pm Post subject: Bus |
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I have never had a problem on the bus out there, i used to use gypsy car taxi never a problem, i had one problem in the metro but that was with the police out there..
Bus and mini bus is a good service metro is fast as the trafic can be very extreme |
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