Metro & public transport
The main mode of transport in Kiev is the city’s metro system. Local lore claims that the Kiev metro was built by German prisoners of war after WWII – in fact it was not actually completed until the early 1960s, when the first line opened. Today’s metro continues to grow with 46 stations and counting on three lines which dissect the city. The system struggles under the strain of an estimated 1.8 million passengers a day but remains remarkably clean and efficient. A single journey – irrespective of your destination, will cost 1.7 hryrvnias – about 25 US cents. Anyone staying for more than a few days and planning to use the metro frequently might want to invest in a monthly pass, which costs about 12 US dollars. Kiev’s metro system includes a number of remarkably deep stations including Arsenalna, which is considered by many to be the deepest metro station in the world. It takes over six minutes to travel the length of the station’s two mammoth-sized escalators.
The number two form of public transport is the marshrootka, which is a form of mini-bus traveling on a designated route. In the immediate post-Soviet years Marshrootkas were relatively makeshift inventions but in the past decade new made to measure mini buses have been introduced and some order established in the sector. Marshrootkas disembark from key downtown locations such as Tolstoy Square, Shevchenko Park and Palace Ukraina metro station all day from 06.00 until midnight, with some night services available. To pay, you simply hand your money (2 hryvnia per person irrespective of destination) to the driver. If the vehicle is crowded then you will be expected to form part of a human chain passing money, tickets and change endlessly back and forth. This might be a good moment to pretend to be an idiot foreigner. As well as its metro system and mini-buses, Kiev also has a tram service which offers a tram to Pushcha Vodytsa, a spa town located five kilometers outside the Ukrainian capital. This tram ride, on an old school 1950s Soviet wagon through the pine forests of Kiev region, is one of the longest and most unusual in urban transport history and is a must. The trans-Siberian tram departs from Kontraktova Ploshchad every hour at twenty past – tram number 31.
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