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Public transportation in Russia tends to be much more widespread and more widely used than in most American cities. Every city or town of any size has a considerable network of buses, trolleys, and trams. Several cities in the former Soviet Union also have metro systems. While the infrastructure of public transportation has deteriorated somewhat in the post-Soviet period, public transportation still is widely used and is generally a convenient way to get around.

For times when public transportation will not do, there are always taxis. While official taxi services exist, for many Russians a “taxi” can be any car whose driver will stop and drive you to a given destination for a specified sum of money. Such free-lance taxi drivers can be found in any Russian city, and can be hailed by standing on the curb and holding out one’s hand.

Until recently, it was relatively rare for ordinary Russians to own cars. In the past decade or so, however, rates of car ownership have grown. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, in particular, there is a considerable percentage of relatively expensive foreign cars. As opposed to the Soviet period, when fancier cars were driven only by important government officials, such cars are now driven by the figures known as “new Russians,” who got rich in the post-Soviet economy.