In the Footsteps of Tsars

30F

Living in St Petersburg means taking the Metro. It is the most reliable, and naturally, the most popular form of transportation in the city. While I am far from being an expert commuter, I feel that during the past two months I have gained enough experience to write about my new favorite way to travel. The St Petersburg Metropolitan is one of deepest, reliable, and artistically significant in the world. Situated far below the city, in the bedrock beneath the salt marshes of the Neva River, it transports massive numbers of people each day without a hitch.

There are four different color coded lines (red, green, orange, and blue) that begin in the suburbs, converge in the city center, and then extend back out to the opposing side of the city from where they began. For instance, the green line begins in the Southeastern most district of St Petersburg, Рыбацкое (Rybatskoe), meets the other lines right along Nevsky Prospekt, and then continues up to the Northwestern most area of the city—my stop—Приморская (Primorskaya). Each station is a work of art depicting the district in which it resides. Приморская used to be the major port of St Petersburg, so the metro station contains stately marble pillars bearing nautical themed bas reliefs and a massive ship’s anchor at the end of the platform. A stop earlier on the green line, Достоевская (Dostoevskaya), attempts to recreate the streets of Dostovskey’s novel, Crime and Punishment, with wrought iron gates emblazoned with gold lettering as if they were shop entrances, as well as benches identical to those used in the city above. However some of the most beautiful stops are on the red line. Ploschad Vostanya is decorated with huge gold stars and ornate decorations celebrating Lenin and the first party congress. Further down on the Red line, the stations become even more elaborate… I hope to eventually post pictures of these places.

Пpиморская

Площадь Восстания

Сенной площади

Each day my experience on the metro begins by me readjusting all of my important items (wallet, passport, keys, cell phone, and camera) from external jacket pockets to internal ones to ward off pickpockets. I then approach the massive crowd of people standing at the turnstiles, slam my metro card down on the sensor, and impatiently wait for the green arrow to light up that says I may proceed. Then I stand in a densely packed group of people at the top of the escalator and push/shove to get a spot as soon as possible.

Because the metro is so deep (a result of the need to dig below the water table) the escalator ride down is endless. Generally, it takes about four minutes, though it often feels like triple that time. The deepest metro stop in the world can be found at Ploschad Lenina/Finlandsky Voksal, although it is only a few meters deeper than the rest. All normal escalator passengers follow the unwritten rule that says they must stand single file on the right side of the steps so that the insane daredevil types can race down the stairs at high speeds using the left side. I tried “running” down the escalator once as I had observed others doing, but decided after a very stressful experience that I would never do it again. Passengers are barraged for duration of their ride with public service announcements, radio advertisements, and colorful billboards to help pass the time. Young children often play games, dropping chunks of ice or even Ruble coins down the side of the railing and watching them role down to the bottom.

A few brisk steps later and you are standing in the station. To the left, trains arriving at Приморска, and on the right, trains departing towards Bасилеотровская. At the end of the marble corridor, a digital clock displays the amount of time that has passed since the previous train departed the station. Usually around 1:35 you begin to feel the whoosh of air racing through the tunnel. At 1:45 a low rumble begins far off to the right of the platform and within five seconds it crescendos into a roar. At 1:53 the bands of light crawl across the walls of the tunnel, and at 1:57 their source becomes visible. Unless the crowd is really dense, which it usually only is on Monday mornings, I stand with my toes right up to the line marking the furthest forward one can stand on the platform. As the train hurdles into the station at 2:01, an enormous burst of air rushes through the empty spaces between passengers. The train screeches to a halt at 2:05, but just seconds before it is moving at forty miles an hour, six inches from where I normally stand

.

Since Приморская is the first stop on the green line each morning, there is no need to force oneself onto the train or battle for a seat. However, during the afternoons, I am routinely squished and elbowed by others (and occasionally squish and elbow them back) as they vie for a chance to squeeze into the doors before they slam shut. As everyone piles in, they wait for the announcement they have heard at least a thousand times before… “Осторожно дверц закрываются.” Its calm, soothing nature is completely opposite the primal nature of those on the train. Bu-bing! Ost-a-roz-na, Dver-its Zak-ri-va-oots-ya (it means something like, “Caution, the doors are closing”). Three seconds later the doors slam shut on whatever is in their way. I will never forget the first time they closed on me; I had leaped on the train at the last second, but underestimated the standing room onboard. The interior doors of the train have rubber padding on them and are relatively easy to pry apart when necessary, but at stations with an additional set of metal external doors (like Gostiny Dvor) attempting this will result in serious injury. The external doors slam shut with an enormous force, and make a boom that echoes across the entire metro station.

Depending on the time of day, the train is either ridiculously crowded, or only very uncomfortable. As soon as I get in, regardless of how many people are in it, I try to find a place where I can hold onto the overhead railing. The trains accelerate/decelerate very quickly, and if you are not holding on to something there is a good chance you will lose your balance. Generally, I do not like to sit because there are plenty of бабушkи who need the seat more than I do. Overall, the ride is moderately bumpy, but very fast.

On the way to Пpиморская after
the doors close on the last car
departing Василеостровская
(12:05am)

I transfer from the green line to the red line at Маяковская (My-ya-cov-sky-ya). This entails getting to the door in time to leap out when the train stops, following the mob of people to the stairs leading down, and walking through a long and twisty white tunnel that connects to another platform. Depending on the layout of the station, the connection could be a tunnel like the one at Маяковская, an escalator ride up/down, or a transfer to the train directly across the platform. This part is time consuming, but relatively painless compared to what comes next.

I take the metro one stop north on the red line to Чернышевская (Cher-ni-shev-sky-ya) where I get off and meet a bus that will take me to the Smolny campus of St Petersburg State University. In case you have not noticed, most of the stations are named after soviet writers. Anyway, to get out of the metro is unlike any experience I had ever been privy to in America. Imagine a crowd of at least six hundred people, crammed together so close that you can feel the people around you breathing. Now imagine all of these people walking towards a three-foot entrance to the escalator. It is insane. The first time I was part of the mob, all I could think of was that scene from March of the Penguins when all the penguins are standing in a circle, wobbling back and forth as they walk. That is what this is like… hundreds of grumpy people, early in the morning, bobbing from their left to their right as they are funneled to the escalator. Sometimes I am certain that if I picked my feet up off the ground, the crowd would just continue to carry me… you are seriously pressed together THAT tight.

Even though it is far from the most comfortable/convenient/enjoyable/straight-forward way to travel, the metro gets you were you need to go, on time, every time. Personally, I think it is a boatload of fun. It gets mundane and annoying on some days, but it is much more exciting than driving along the same route every day. Moreover, while I have no way to compare the St Petersburg metro to that of other cities, I am almost positive that it is unique.