I did ride the metro every day until the end of June 2006, when I moved back to the US. You're complaining that the greatest public transport system in the world is crowded...what do you expect, a special car for your own, so you can take a nap during your commute?

It's the busiest metro in the world, but it also services more stops. Yes, the metros need expanding and I'm sure it's being looked into. But to say "the Moscow Metro sucks because it's crowded," is pretty ridiculous.

Take a look at the Tokyo metro if you want to see crowded.

are there any left luggage lockers or similar at yaroslavsky vokzal railway station.travelling through moscow on 7th nov, 10 hours in city so dont want to carry bags with us. cheers michael.

Still better than London, at least the trains don't have 'signal failures' every day.

Stop whining. Same problem in DC and the system was designed in the 1960's. Its the same in all large cities where everything is central. Come to DC in August and ride the metro when its 95% Humidity and 95F outside. Even though the system is airconditioned, smelling someones rank underarm is unpleasant here just as much as there.

2 Michael:
Yes, there are lockers at all train stations in Russia.

Finding something worse to prove something else is better is a weak argument. The fact is the metro is broken. This problem didn't exist a few years ago. A lack of foresight and planning has caused it. Don't get angry about what I wrote my idealistic friends. Call this a lament for a great metro lost.

Even if they are looking into the problems it will be at least 10 years before anything at all is done. At the moment they claim they don't even have the funds to replace the many trains on the system that are acknowledged as safety hazards...

The Metro is amazing. Yes it can get crowded and sometimes you cannot get on a train, but to compare reliability there is no system in the World that compares in terms of size and efficiency and value. I even discovered recently that people can instantly know which direction they are going by listening to the anouncements. A woman calls out the stations away from the centre and a man calls you into the centre. How cool is that!

NYC metro system is much more crowed..

The Metro is kind of a fun novelty for a while, but it really starts to drag after a few months. I was lucky to live on a terminal station (Выхино), so I was always able to get a car. If you are not on a terminus, and on a busy route, during rush hour it can be extremely difficult to force your way into a car (sometimes you have to wait for 5-6 to pass first). Even old women have to fight the crowd to get on. Once on, the cars aren't merely "crowded". At peak travel times, it's like being in the front rows of a major rock show. Better hope you're getting off at the ring, or downtown with everyone else!

I don't mean to sound too negative, the problems with the Metro are wholly capacity-related. Much like congestion on highways in the US, the problems disappear when not busy. The system itself is easy, cheap, and speedy. Just needs to be bigger!

I have to say it is the general negotiation of the thing that bogs me off. I have used Metros all over the world but as a tourist who is only begining to read Russian one can easily get lost in Moskow and especially St. Petersburg. Here are my niggles

Eash station can have many names each corresponding to the line that hits it. It can take some time to work out which name belongs to which line and it is easy to make mistakes.

When I was lost and had no map the only way to I could find my location was to go back up the long stairs. As a result I was usually thrown straight out of the system and had to pay again to get back in.

The stations are badly marked. I have only seen the name of a station about one in every 5. This is due to the lack of sign posts and the bad postion of the ones that are there so that another train or the train I was on would block the sign. So if a person cannot hear/understand the tannoy sound system that person has to keep count of stops to work out what station they are in.

The signs to direct people towards cross-over lines within a staion are often in completely different colours to the colour of that line. This means one can only rely on the number of that line.

That added to the fact that the words and cryllic alphabet are not yet familiar to me resulted in a hell of a time to get around. At least to begin with. Figured it out in the end.

To call the Moscow Metro the best in the world is to ignore these facts. In Honk Kong there are lines that one need simply follow to get to there chosen line and/or exit. In every other Underground/Metro each station only has one name! Every other Metro I have been on will tell you the station name very obviously so you know when to get off. And all of them had lots of clear easy to follow maps at many locations not just the entrance.

I have to say it is the general negotiation of the thing that bogs me off. I have used Metros all over the world but as a tourist who is only begining to read Russian one can easily get lost in Moskow and especially St. Petersburg. Here are my niggles

Eash station can have many names each corresponding to the line that hits it. It can take some time to work out which name belongs to which line and it is easy to make mistakes.

When I was lost and had no map the only way to I could find my location was to go back up the long stairs. As a result I was usually thrown straight out of the system and had to pay again to get back in.

The stations are badly marked. I have only seen the name of a station about one in every 5. This is due to the lack of sign posts and the bad postion of the ones that are there so that another train or the train I was on would block the sign. So if a person cannot hear/understand the tannoy sound system that person has to keep count of stops to work out what station they are in.

The signs to direct people towards cross-over lines within a staion are often in completely different colours to the colour of that line. This means one can only rely on the number of that line.

That added to the fact that the words and cryllic alphabet are not yet familiar to me resulted in a hell of a time to get around. At least to begin with. Figured it out in the end.

To call the Moscow Metro the best in the world is to ignore these facts. In Honk Kong there are lines that one need simply follow to get to there chosen line and/or exit. In every other Underground/Metro each station only has one name! Every other Metro I have been on will tell you the station name very obviously so you know when to get off. And all of them had lots of clear easy to follow maps at many locations not just the entrance.

NYC metro smells like public bathroom. I don't think peeing is allowed at metro platform in Moscow. But I remember at St. Petersburg when I visited during summer, I smelt local people who don't take shower very often, especially at long escalator with wind browing toward outside. It was quite stinky.