Traveling around Russia by bus

contents: general info • finding the bus station • reading the schedule • buying the tickets

General Information

There's a special situation with the bus system in Russia: the bus routes go all over Russia, you can get anywhere taking a local or an intercity bus, the prices are very cheap.
But the chaos on the busstations (with the tickets, long, tiring queues etc.), low quality and poor comfort of the buses, operators (who sell the tickets, and info offices), who speak only Russian (even in the major cities) make it very hard for foreigners to use the buses in Russia.
Sometimes, if you want to get to a really nice remote place, or if you missed your train, local or intercity bus is a really good (and the only) option to go ahead with.
There are busstations in every city and every little town in Russia. There are plenty of local buses that go around the region, and there are buses that go to the other cities, especially at the places that are on the busy transport ways.

Finding a Bus Station

If you are looking for a bus station in the cities listed on our site, go to the Transportation section of the appropriate city ./ destination guide, we have the addresses and directions there. Otherwise, read on.
"Bus station" in Russian is "Avtos`tantsiya" ("Ä‚ÚÓÒڇ̈ˤ"). The first place to look for a bus station is next to the main railway station of the city. If you can't find it around there, then ask any person something like: "excuse me, where's bus station?" - "izvi`nite, gde avtos`tantsiya?" - "ËÁ‚ËÌËÚÂ, „‰Â ‡‚ÚÓÒڇ̈ˤ?". Most likely, the person will recommend you to take a bus ("avtobus" - "‡‚ÚÓ·ÛÒ") from the railway station that'll take you directly to the bus station (there's always such bus, connecting the railway station and the bus station).
In big cities, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, you'll have to take the metro, and the bus station will be just next to the metro exit.

Schyolkovsky Bus Terminal, Main Bus Station in Moscow
Telephones: (+7 095) 468-0400, 468-4370
The main Moscow bus terminal is located just next to Shchyolkovskaya metro station (the last station to the east on the dark blue line). You can get a bus to almost any Russian town and city from there. When you get inside the station, you'll see signs in English and Russian in front of you. The timetables of the buses and ticket sales offices are on the right, the luggage storage rooms and cafes are on the left. You can leave your luggage for 20-30 rub ($0.7-$1) a day, the luggage storage is closed between 23.00 and 6.30, and they have a break from 14.00 to 15.00.
The Shchyolkovskaya bus station is opened from 6.30 to 23.00.
For bus schedules between Moscow and other cities featured on WayToRussia.Net guide, see Transport / Domestic Bus Schedules.
Directions: go to Shchyolkovskaya metro station (the last station to the east on the dark blue line), take the first carriage from the centrum. As you walk out, there'll be many stalls and little shops around, and a bit further - a large building with "Avtostantsiya" written on top. That's the bus station.

Reading the Bus Schedule

Once you got to the bus station, you need to find the schedule - "raspi`sanie" - "¦‡ÒÔËÒ‡ÌËÂ". Once you found it, you need to make sure it is the schedule of the buses departing from the bus station, not arriving. "Depart" in Russian is "otprav`lyatsya" - "ÓÚÔ¦‡‚ΤڸҤ", sometimes there'll be written "departure" - "otprav`lenie" - "ÓÚÔ¦‡‚ÎÂÌËÂ".
Your destination will be marked as "point of destination" - "punkt nazna`cheniya" - "ÔÛÌÍÚ Ì‡Á̇˜ÂÌˤ". You need to know the Russian alphabet to be able to read something, see our Russian Language section, it'll be enough.
There'll be usually two times written, one is obviously the time of departure (vremya otprav`lenie - ‚¦ÂϤ ÓÚÔ¦‡‚ÎÂÌˤ), another is the time of arrival (vremya pribytiya - ‚¦ÂϤ Ԧ˷ÚÚˤ).
If you feel like talking to the people or information office, use the phrase "when the bus to .... (e.g. Novgorod) departs?" - "kog`da otprav`lyaetsya av`tobus v Novgorod?" - "ÍÓ„‰‡ ÓÚÔ¦‡‚ΤÂÚÒ¤ ‡‚ÚÓ·ÛÒ ‚ çÓ‚„Ó¦Ó‰?".
Once you know the times, you need to know the prices. The price - "tse`na" - "ˆÂ̇". It's better to buy the tickets one way (v o`din konets - ‚ Ó‰ËÌ ÍÓ̈), because there're no discounts for return tickets anyway, and there's a risk a salesperson won't understand what you want.
The prices vary, but are surely less than the train prices.
The prices for foreigners are the same as for Russians.

Write down all the information you got to show it to the ticket sales person. When she (usually women work there) tells you something, ask her to write it down, so you'd check if you understand each other.

Try to do everything to find if the ticket you need is available, there's nothing worth standing in a line for 2 hours, to learn that there are no more tickets left.

How to Buy a Bus Ticket

You should buy the ticket at the ticket sales office - "`kassa" - "͇ÒÒ‡" in Russian. If you're not sure where the kassa is, ask "where's kasssa" - "g`de kassa?".
There'll be most probably many people at the bus station, and especially long queues, so be prepared to spend 1-2 hours waiting in a line and being shoved by babushkas (old women). It's going to be one of the most typical and interesting experience you can get in Russia.
Once you're close to the kassa window, prepare all you've written down, and show your paper to the person selling the tickets. Useful phrases are "one ticket to .... (e.g. Novgorod), please" - "o`din bi`let v `novgorod, po`zhaluista" - "Ó‰ËÌ ·ËÎÂÚ ‚ çÓ‚„Ó¦Ó‰, ÔÓʇÎÛÈÒÚ‡". Be prepared there'll be no tickets left.
Once you've got the ticket, stay next to the window, and check the change and the data on the ticket. Sometimes, there's nothing informative written on the ticket, so it's only left to hope it's ok.