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Mark-in-Melbourne
Frequent Guest
Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 16
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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 Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:34 am Post subject: Train ticket collection? |
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If I buy trains tickets through the suppliers suggested by WTR, do most of the companies have offices that are easy to find in the centre of Moscow an St Petersburg? I will have to collect the tickets because there isn't enough time to have them posted to me in Australia. The tickets I would be buying are Moscow to St Petersburg and St Petersburg to Helsinki.
Also, would love to hear of any experiences of non-Russian speaking people buying train tickets at train stations. How hard is it? |
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overseas_expat
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Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 741
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 8:10 am Post subject: |
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Well there really isn't anything that might be called a "train ticket office." There are ticket kaccas at every station where you can buy tickts, but oi oi oi, getting them from the kacca babushki if you speak no Russian is a b*tch. I've done it but it's always an experience akin to dental extraction.
As has been noted here before *customer service* is an unknown quality in Russia. The kacca sovietskayas get paid the same for selling tickets or not selling tickets, and they don't really care which.
Practice your Russian before you get here. The word for ticket is "billyet." Get someone to write down for you phonetically what you need to say and practice it before you get here or you'll never get a train ticket. |
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Mark-in-Melbourne
Frequent Guest
Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 16
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:09 am Post subject: |
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Thanks a lot for that. Hmmmmm, I think I might buy my tickets in advance using the WTR referral service. As much as I like the idea of having a crazy ticket-buying experience, I don't like the idea of being unsuccessful and being stranded in Moscow when I'm supposed to be in St Pete!
Does anyone know what it's like to collect tickets from any of the companies that WTR refers you to with the train ticket buying part of the website? |
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greg222
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Joined: 15 Feb 2005
Posts: 599
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| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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Three of the companies do free delivery in Moscow (usually to your hotel/hostel) and two of those companies have offices where you can pick up the tickets, but the offices are not central. The fourth company (Express to Russia) is based in St Petersburg, though I believe they have an office in Moscow as well.
For your journey I would recommend you use Connect Russia - they don't have a pick-up service but they'll deliver them to you. |
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Ekaterina
Talk Show Host
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 265
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:31 pm Post subject: |
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Mark,
You may book the tickets in the state railway agency on 266 8333. They charge 170 rubles for booking and 170 rubles for delivery.
In the main ticket office at Komsomolskaya metro station there is a ticket window for foreigners where you will be charge a little bit extra.
You may also ask someone Russian to write in Russian what you need and give that piece of paper to the ordinary ticket window.
Don't worry about getting stuck in Moscow.There are dozens trains to St. Petersburg a day and you will get a ticket without any problems if you are not after the cheapest option.
There are a few trains to Helsinki a week. I took one from Moscow recently and it was almost empty. |
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Mark-in-Melbourne
Frequent Guest
Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 16
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:07 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks so much, Ekaterina. So it seems that I will be able to buy a train ticket in Moscow after all. The foreigners' ticket window sounds like a good option. As for St Pete to Helsinki, I might try to buy that one on the web. Maybe through Connect to Russia (thanks, Greg!). |
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overseas_expat
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Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 741
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 7:41 am Post subject: |
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| Foreigners ticket window? That's news to me. I've been up there many a time and never seen such a thing. You might also want to tell Mark that there must be 30 or 40 ticket windows in the vicinity of Komsolmolskaya Metro/Leningradsky-Yaroslavl Vokzal/numerous elecktrichka stations? Let's face it, that place is a zoo. |
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Ekaterina
Talk Show Host
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 265
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:55 am Post subject: |
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Foreigners ticket window was also news for me recently. One of my guests tried to buy a ticket at an ordinary window and was turned to a special window where the cashier spoke English.
overseas_expat,
The main ticket office is separated from the ticket offices at railway stations. It is situated between the stations, just go straight when you get out from metro, it is very easy.
As for tickets to Helsinki, there are dozens travel agencies in Moscow which sell them and sometimes the price is less than an oficial one. It is easy to find them near Finnish embassy which is near metro Park Kultury.
It is also easy to buy the ticket at that foreigners ticket window for oficial price. I booked my tickets on the telephone, it is very easy and you won't spend time for going to the ticket office. |
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Mark-in-Melbourne
Frequent Guest
Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 16
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:25 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks to both of you. I really appreciate your willingness to help. But this shows why travelling to Russia is daunting for foreigners. There seems to be many different stories for how to do the same thing!
Ekaterina, I have one more question: will I be able to see which window is the foreigners' window or should i just try any window and wait to be directed to the correct one when they realise my tourist guidebook Russian language skills are indecipherable?!
Thanks again! |
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overseas_expat
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Joined: 11 Jan 2005
Posts: 741
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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With all due respect, there is one huge differnce between Ekaterina and I: she is Russian and I am not. What seems like a simple straighthtforward matter to a Russian (even one who speaks brilliant English) is an incomprehensible quagmire to a new non-Russian-speaking foreigner.
What she sees as a simple transaction of buying a train ticket at the *foreigners window* at Leningradsky Vokzal, I can assure you, will seem like a climb up Mt. Everest once you embark on this task. And I've got 5 bucks that says even if you can find this magic window (I never have) there is a low probability that it will be actually open. On break, out to lunch, closed on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the only English speaker employed there is off on maternity leave for a year. (you think I'm making this stuff up? How many times have I had such experiences.....?)
Buying tickets of any kind here has been the bane of my existance. Ballet tickets, hockey tickets, train tickets, theatre tickets, Metro tickets, you name it and I've been Nyet-ed. Or then they start asking you other kinds of questions about the tickets and you're toast.
I would advise that you hire the above named inermediary agency to do the work for you for the 170 rubles. Let them listen to the nyets. |
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Ekaterina
Talk Show Host
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 265
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2006 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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| Mark in Melbourne wrote: | | Ekaterina, I have one more question: will I be able to see which window is the foreigners' window or should i just try any window and wait to be directed to the correct one when they realise my tourist guidebook Russian language skills are indecipherable? |
Mark,
It was right question. I have just called there. There are a few cashiers in the agency who speak English and you should try any window to be redirected. Don't choose the first window you see, pass straight to the last huge ticket room.
overseas_expat,
Russian public transport system is perfect as compared with American or Australian one. You will be in time at your destination point and you will get a service wich is good enough for that money you pay for it. The tickets are cheap so the cashiers are low paid. This balance is more convenient for Russian people than to pay much and have polite English speaking cashiers. |
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MrSpice
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3431
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| Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:51 am Post subject: |
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| Ekaterina wrote: |
overseas_expat,
Russian public transport system is perfect as compared with American or Australian one. You will be in time at your destination point and you will get a service wich is good enough for that money you pay for it. The tickets are cheap so the cashiers are low paid. This balance is more convenient for Russian people than to pay much and have polite English speaking cashiers. |
Every time Ekaterina mentioned the United States, you have to take those kinds of opinions with a grain of salt. She really has no clue about what she is talking about. She was only briefly in the US and spent most of her time in the desert and has no idea about public transport is like in the US. Cities like Boston and San Francisco, for example, have excellent public transportation systems. New York subway system is less attractive visually, but it runs 24 hours a day, trains have air conditioning and express trains run quite fast covering huge distances in a realatively short time. Buses in New York are pretty comfortable and good (pretty much like anywhere in Europe).
Metro (subway) in the major cities like Moscow and St Petersburg are very good. However, they don't cover a lot of the areas in the city. Especially in St Petersburg, you cannot get to many areas without changing to a bus or trolley bus or tram. Buses and trolley busses are much worse than those in the US. In the winter they are very cold. In the summer, they can be hot. They are packed with people and you have to keep your pockets and wallet safe. Also, people in Russia have no problem pushing others. You want hear a typical "excuse me" in Russia when someone needs to get off the train or bus.
Service in Russia sucks, so don't expect much in that area. I did not feel it that much because I am somewhat used to it (lived in a Russian area of New York for many years), but most Europeans and Americans complained that Russian service workers were very rude to them. It goes back to Soviet times and typical attitudes of many people towards work... |
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MrSpice
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3431
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Ekaterina
Talk Show Host
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 265
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:36 am Post subject: |
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MrSpice,
You probably haven't noticed that we are talking about long distance trains here.
The railway system in the US is ot developed and I have already told here about my experience. I will never spend a minute ont a cent for Amtrak any more. The uncomfortable seat among alcoholics cost me $70 per night and it didn't take me to the destination point at all as got stuck in the forest. The Ameticans in the train didn't worry about it because it was not unusual.
There are many interesting places where there is no public trasport at all. You seem to have forgotten that I am not after moving from one restaurant to another one in big cities. Reread my previous posts if you still don't understand where and how I travelled.
As for Australia I mentioned here, the wealthy people there don't need public tranport there but there is some difference for tourists between travelling in Australia and in America. The people in Australia are incredibly helpful, friendly and hospitable. The hitchhiking is perfect so the absence of public transport doesn't spoil the trip.
Staying for hours at the roads in America I found hitchhiking is more reliable way of travelling there though as I could at least be in time to my flight back when I escaped from that stuck train. I have never had such an experience in other countries. So what is sucks after that?
MrSpice, you are used to not only to Russian service in America but you are used to shit around on this forum. |
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Ekaterina
Talk Show Host
Joined: 28 Sep 2005
Posts: 265
Location: Moscow
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| Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:43 am Post subject: |
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MrSpice,
Please open your own thread in appropriate section of the forum if you need to discuss either American metro or just shit on Russia. The people are talking about Russian train tickets system here so if you have nothing to say please stay out.
Sorry that I followed you here and replied about American stuff.
Last edited by Ekaterina on Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:50 am; edited 1 time in total |
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