04 июня 2018

How the Tourists Can Save on Transport in Moscow: The Most Profitable Tickets Types

Often tourists who come to Moscow buy public transport tickets as needed and do not think about saving on trips considering them insignificant.

Let’s try to figure out how much one can save on public transport in Moscow buying various types of travel passes. The table below shows calculations for several types of Unified (Yediniy) tickets most suitable for tourists with short stays in the capital (up to a week), and Troika card. They give the right to travel on all types of land transport (bus, trolley, tram), as well as the metro, MCC and monorail.

Unified (Yediniy) and Troika cards

All kinds of travel passes are sold at the ticket offices of the metro. At the most popular metro stations there are the English-speaking cashiers. Such cash desks are marked with a sticker «We speak English!»

If You Stay in Moscow from 2 to 7 Days

To begin with, let’s compare the cost of the current variants of travel passes for tourists who come to Moscow for one week. For a seven-day stay, the Unified (Yediniy) 7-day ticket (the penultimate line of Table No. 1) and the costs when using cards for 1-2 trips (the first line of Table No. 1) were compared. In the first line in each cell there are two figures: the first one — with an average number of trips per day equal to five; the second one — for more active tourists making an average of 10 trips per day.

For the first ones, the savings will be 1,095 rubles (1,925 minus 830), for the second ones — 3,020 rubles (3,850 minus 830). It can be assumed that few travellers will find this amount insignificant.

In the table, the most economical options are highlighted in green, less efficient are in yellow, and least profitable are in red. Some options require explanations, so we shall consider successively what kind of tickets is more profitable to use for each period of stay in the capital.

Seven-day period has already been considered above, and it was concluded that it is the best in this case to buy the Unified (Yediniy) card for 7 days for 830 rubles. Yellow colour sows the option if you buy two three-day tickets and one daily card.

For the six-day and five-day period it is also better to use the Unified (Yediniy) card for 7 days for 830 rubles. Two three-day tickets will cost the same amount.

For four days stay in the capital it is most profitable to buy a three-day and one-day Unified (Yediniy) tickets. They will cost 633 rubles.

The bottom line of the Table shows the cost of using the Troika card. In some cases, the trips using it can be cheaper, in particular, when the trip by the metro and land transport are combined. But tourists usually use only the metro where the fare on the card is 36 rubles. It is used in the calculations. More information about the Troika card and how to save with it will be described below.

The 3-day Unified (Yediniy) ticket for 415 rubles will be suitable for three or two days stay.

If You Stay in Moscow for 1 Day

If you are in Moscow for one day and you know that there will be more than six trips do not hesitate to buy the Unified (Yediniy) ticket for 1 day for 218 rubles. You can travel with it on all means of transport 24 hours from the first use.

With six or fewer trips, the ticket should be chosen depending on their number. Comparative calculations are given in Table 2.

1. If you have one trip, for example, moving to the metro from one railway station to another then it is enough to buy a ticket for 1 trip for 55 rubles.

With the Troika card you can have a trip for 36 rubles, but for this you will need to purchase a card first paying the amount of collateral — 50 rubles and the fare — 36 rubles in the metro ticket office, and after the trip you will have to hand over the Troika card in the metro ticket office and return the 50 rubles deposit. Not everyone will spend time on these procedures for 20 rubles saving.

However, if you periodically come to Moscow it is better to buy Troika since its validity period is 5 years. Having deposited money on it for several trips you will save yourself from queues at the metro ticket offices during the next visits to the capital — the queues at the metro stations near the stations are especially long.

2. Two types of transport may be necessary for one trip. In this case it is definitely more profitable to buy a Troika card having paid the 50 rubles deposit amount and the fare in the metro ticket office.

The Wallet tariff (Koshelek) allows to take the metro, MCC or monorail and make an unlimited number of land transfers within 90 minutes for 56 rubles, and two trips in the metro will cost 72 rubles. (36×2).

If you give Troika back to the metro ticket office and return deposit the cost of two trips will make from 56 to 72 rubles.

3. Similarly, you can calculate the cost of 3-6 trips using the Troika card tariffs:

· Trip by metro/MCC/monorail — 36 rubles;

· Trip by bus/trolley/tram — 36 rubles;

· One trip by metro/MCC/monorail and an unlimited number of land transport transfers (bus/trolley/tram) for one and a half hours — 56 rubles.


In all these cases, it is more profitable to purchase a Troika card. But in case of six trips it is sometimes better to buy the Unified (Yediniy) ticket for 1 day for 218 rubles. This concerns the tourists from afar who may not come to Moscow anymore and the Troika will not be useful to them in the future. They usually use the metro only and will spend 216 rubles on trips even if the deposit is returned.

And those who need a Troika card in the future, they better buy it. At the metro ticket offices, you can top up the Troika balance and return the deposit if you no longer need this card. The balance on the card is not returned at the ticket offices.

The information about the balance is shown on the turnstile display when you attach the card to the reader when passing through the turnstile (see the photo below to the left). Also, there are yellow terminals for checking the balance near the ticket offices. It is enough to attach the card to the reader and the information you are interested in appears on the screen (on the right side of the photo).

Checking the card balance

In land transport (bus/trolley/tram), the drivers can only sell the Unified (Yediniy) tickets for one trip for 55 rubles.

IMPORTANT: Only one person can use the listed travel passes at a time. Each passenger must have his own ticket and can be fined in its absence.

Additional information can be found on the official website of the Moscow transport transport.mos.ru.