Russia: The Yandex Destination

 Mo-Ad, my cool Yandex driver in Moscow!

Thanks to the app revolution, using cabs now in Russia, especially in the main cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, are a piece of cake, a spicy one at that!

Apparently, Uber does work in Russia. For me, it didn't. Each time I opened my Uber app on my phone, I was told to update my app, and when I tried to, it led me to Yandex taxi app. Don't know if it was a technical glitch or just plain old Russian interference in my being unable to use an American app!

Now, to be able to use the Yandex app, you have to have a local Russia number. Once you've got yourself a local sim card, it's pretty easy to set up and use. And, what they don't tell you is the number of interesting drivers you meet.

First, a comment of a general nature about the Russian cab drivers. 

They love revving up their engines, speeding, zig zagging through traffic... That's all of them. Post that, they can be divided into two varieties, English-speaking and non-English speaking! The non-English speaking ones will get you to your destination without much ado. However, it's the English-speaking ones who will make your Yandex ride memorable...

Meet "Mo-Ad" (aka Magomed), my Yandex driver in Moscow. 

He was our first Yandex drive and was supposed to pick us up from our hotel in Yakimanka District, President Hotel. We were running late to reach Red Square to meet a dear friend. Under the impression that the Moscow cab drivers don't speak english, we were under additional stress. And, in comes Yushkov Magomed Saidovich in his Yellow Skoda Octavia OC16877. In his impeccable English, he puts us at ease and confirms that he is going along the fastest route to the Red Square. Laughs gleefully when we compliment his proficiency in English, and tells us, with a smile, that we should not expect every Yandex drive to speak in English.

We have a wide ranging chat about various issues including Mo-Ad giving up his day time job in Moscow to drive a Yandex, mainly because it was easygoing and gave him an option to enjoy his passion, diving! Mo-Ad also tells us about his two brothers who are more in love and more fierce (if it's possible) drivers than him! Leaves us at the Red Square with a lovely tale about "a cool Chechen friend" which is coming up soon in one of my later blog posts... Wait for it, and in the mean time if you bump in to Mo-Ad, say hi from us!

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Keep in mind:

App based taxi services like Yandex and Gett are much cheaper and easier to use than the taxis on the road. Get a local sim, set up the app and you're good to go.

An average ride within Moscow or St Petersburg main areas is likely to cost anywhere between Rubels 250-400.

Moscow is the best place to try out Merc E Class, Audi A6/A7, BMW 5 and more for a slightly higher fare than the average.