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The bus network of St. Petersburg is extensive, but can be a bit confusing for a foreigner. Bus stops are marked by signs with the letter "A", which stands for avtobus.
Currently the city has several types of buses:
Regular buses now have conductors on board. You should pay for your ticket in cash to a conductor or show him/her your monthly pass.
T-buses (Taxi-buses) accept cash only and no passes are valid on them. Since they charge a bit more than regular buses, T-buses rarely become crowded.
E-buses (Express buses) are normally coaches, which are supposed to be faster and more comfortable. They accept cash only and can skip stops if nobody wants to board or exit the bus (So be sure to tell the driver that you need the next stop). Currently these buses are twice as expensive as the metro.
Plus there are vans, which are called "marshrutniye taksi" or "marshrutki". These are more popular in the newer districts of the city. You will be charged 2-3 rubles when you board a van, then just tell the drived, where you want him to stop and drop you off. With the city's attempts to make public transport more cost-effective, one should expect further spread of "marshrutki"
The first buses started running in St. Petersburg in 1907, when a local entrepreneur opened two bus routes, which connected the city center with two of the city's major Railway Stations. After the Revolution bus services resumed in Leningrad on December 24, 1926. The first 5 buses started running from Palace Square to the Moscow Railway Station and the whole trip lasted for only 18-20 minutes.
Bus transportation in the city reached its peak in the 1980s. In the late 1980s there were about 200 bus routes served by 3 200 buses. Every year 1 200 million passengers use city buses.
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