Novosibirsk transportation

You can travel to Novosibirsk by plane or by train. Novosibirsk is the major Trans-Siberian transport hub, so all the trains stop there. For schedules of the most popular trains, see the Trans-Siberian train schedule. A ticket from Moscow to Novosibirsk costs about 2500 R ($80) for a 2nd class trip (coupe - 1 berth in 4-berth compartment), and lasts slightly less than 2 days.Novosibirsk railway station is really one of the best in Russia. It was renovated not long ago, and is very comfortable and clean. There is a huge waiting hall that is opened 24 hours a day, a luggage storage area, service center (where you can book a ticket or rent a car), short-term apartment reservation stand (on the ground floor), a lot of little shops and cafes, where you can buy a snack, and a small hotel (which is booked most of the time, but you can try it out anyway). There are also really good photo exhibitions in the waiting hall, featuring photos of Russia's most attractive spots (Baikal Lake, Altai mountains, cities, etc.)
You can also travel to Novosibirsk by air. The local airport is called "Tolmachovo", and is located 20 km west from the centrum. There are daily flights to all main Russian cities and CIS cities and some international flights to Frankfurt, Hannover, Beijing, Seoul, Ho Shi Min, Tel Aviv.

Transfer to the city from airport costs about $20 US by a car or a taxi. You can also take a bus that stops next to Novosibirsk hotel or a shuttle.
There's another airport, which is closer to the city for short local flights. . The major Russian airlines such as Aeroflot (http://www.aeroflot.ru) and Sibir (http://www.s7.ru) have at least one flight a day. It takes about 3 hours to fly to Novosibirsk from Moscow and costs about $100 one way.
The main bus station is located in the south of the city on Krasny Prospekt, and buses depart to all local destinations, including the direction of Altai mountains.

Novosibirsk metro
Novosibirsk metro (the only one to the east to the Ural) was put into operation in 1986. It includes 11 stations and a metro bridge across the Ob river 2145 meters long. Novosibirsk metro is the third in Russia in passengers throughput (250 thousand passengers a day).
It is safe to say that Novosibirck metro is the cheapest and the easiest way to move to different parts of the city. Unlike stuffy and always overcrowded Moskow underground, it is quite clean and easy to breathe. Even if you don't know the city well you won't get lost since it comprises not very many stations.

To take a metro ride you should buy counters and deposit it into a slot of an automatic entry gate and get in . They are usually sold at every Metro station in booking offices in the Metro entrance halls. The fee for one trip by Metro is fixed, i.e. it doesn't depend on the length of your route. Metro ride presently costs 8 Rubles, which is about 27cents.

Advice: never go by metro after you have taken alcohol. They have cops on every station who will not simply let you in.

Novosibirsk Taxi
However, the most popular transport in Novosibirsk are taxis. They are virtually everywhere. If you already got used to waving your hand on the street and catching any car, that will give you a lift for money (as it is in Moscow), that will not happen in Novosibirsk. Normal people just don't give lifts, because there are so many taxis in the city. Usually, they work 24 hours a day, but if you have a trouble finding one, go to the city's most popular spots, such as the railway station, or intersection of Lenina and Krasny Prospekt streets.
Usually you should count about 9R ($0.3) for 1 kilometer. So, for example, to get from Lenina street to the railway staiton should cost you about 50R $1.7, while going to Akademgorodok (which is about 30 km away), should cost about 200 R ($7). However, as everywhere in Russia, prices tend to rise, so it might change quite fast, but not much.
Here are telephone numbers of some Novosibirsk taxi company (operators speak Russian only): (3832) 111-555, Sozvezdie Scorpiona, phone: 545-545, 107-107. Express-Taxi; phone: 180-000, 222-222. There are a lot more of them in the city, and the telephone is usually written on the cars.

When catching taxis try to follow these rules.
-- don't get into a vehicle with any passenger in except for the case when he is a friend of yours;
-- the shabbier is the car, the less price its driver will ask for his services,
-- make arrangements about the ride cost with the driver before you get in and pay only in rubles.

Useful Novosibirsk related links: