Yandex taxi or Uber in St Petersburg

Becky , Sorry you have not received a response , so I'll jump in . I am not a fan of Uber ( on principled grounds ) and my understanding of cabs in St Petersburg is that when necessary , it would be wise to book via your hotel - the place is not quite like London , Paris or New York when it comes to transparency . Since I only use cabs on very rare occasions , I rely on public transportation , and St Petersburg is very easy in that regard - The network of Metro , Buses , Trolley Buses , and Marshrutkas ( route mini buses ) will get you anywhere with ease .

Thank you for your reply. I only asked because our hotel is about 1 km from public transpirtation. We will plan to walk to most places, but my husband pushes me in a wheelchair for distances over 500 meters. My question re a taxi/Uber is that we would only use if its pouring rain when we leave the Hermitage. I hear the taxis at the Hermitage have adjusted their meters to really overcharge. I guess we can figure out how to call our hotel and have them call a taxi for us, if needed. Turns out my husband is uncomfortable setting up a Russian Uber account (i read somewhere that Uber is easy in Russia because you don't have to communicate too much with the driver.)

Hi,

I have used both Uber and Yandex extensively in Moscow and st.pete; Uber has proven to be consistently 10 to 20 percent cheaper. Both were at least 40 percent cheaper than gypsy cabs and "official" taxis - and much more convenient.
One thing of note is that more often than not the drivers would be signed up to several e-taxi services anyway, so you might get the same driver/car through different applications.

Uber is designed to be super easy anywhere in the world, and you don't need to set up a different account if you're traveling. The Uber app will work in Russia the same way it works here ...just open the app on your phone and it'll automatically switch to the country you're in. The only issue is, of course, internet - you'll need either wifi or a data connection to access the app, so be sure you're either set up with data roaming on your phone, or that you're always in a place that has wifi. All that having been said - I'd go with Uber if you're not against it on principle - it's like eating at McDonalds ...a Big Mac is the same all over the place, no surprises. ))

Well, that ^, but one spot where all the benefits of Uber (except price advantage) are gone is airports. There are so many cars and potential pickup places that you just HAVE to somehow communicate with the driver or you'll be slapped a no-show fee.
So for airports, I'd go with official cabs or AirTrain.

From the airport, we ended up using the official taxi (stand right outside if exit). You just show them the name and address of your hotel. You pay a flat rate according to the district of your hotel. We paid $23 for the trip. In St. Petersburg, we ended up walking or taking the subway or bus. It was an adventure, but a good one. We used google searches when we had wifi to plan our route- no problems except for the fact that we learned there are 2 different bus routes with the number 22. Luckily, my husband loves transit and figured out the stops we needed.

Dumb question. Im assuming that the Uber will show the addresses in the Roman alphabet. correct?

Diane,
It will be in Roman transliteration, but you should also be able to use Cyrillic if you need to.
Why don't you download their app and give it a test run? In any case, it takes some time to set it up, enter your details and all, so you might be better off doing it before you actually arrive.

hi there does anyone know if there is anybody doing- localmoo com in russia
I have used this site when traveling to France and got lots of local info from locals on the ground.
It would be great to chat with a local in St Petersberg........
Regards Sam