Traffic in Saint-Petersburg now is the same as traffic in New York. This gives me an opportunity to re-explore the city's subway system. Fortunately, it is super clean and beautiful. Saint-Petersburg subway is a real museum featuring typical Soviet designs, exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most elegant metros in the world. Due to the city's unique geology (Saint-Petersburg was built on a swamp – real great legacy for the health of its inhabitants), the metro is very deep. The deepest station is apparently 105 meters (!) below ground. On average, it takes about 3 minutes to go up/down the escalator.
As much as I love the physical beauty of the Saint-Petersburg metro, I must share some facts that make this service less attractive:
- The subway system doesn't really cover the entire city. Also, there are huge gaps in between stations: my University, for example, was located in between Vasileostrovskaya and Gostiny Dvor stations, and it is a 25-minute walk from either.
- It starts working at about 5AM (depends on a station) and stops at 1AM. Not terribly convenient compared to its NYC 24-hour counterpart.
- For some reason, nowadays there are huge crowds at any time of the day. I understand the rush hour, but seriously, don't people work around 2PM, for example??? I'm stunned.
Yes, don't they!? hee hee
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