How to move around Crimea by bus quickly, inexpensively and without problems

In Crimea, intercity and suburban bus service is well developed. You can get directly or with transfers from anywhere and anywhere, and large cities and resorts are connected by frequent direct flights. Prices for moving in comparison with trips to similar distances in other regions of Russia are very low. For example, a two-hour transfer from Simferopol to Evpatoria for a distance of about 100 kilometers by local bus will cost only 80 rubles (Price June 2015).

But there is always a fly in the ointment for any barrel of honey, and with passenger transport on intercity buses by Crimea there are serious problems that every tourist planning his trip there should know about.

Purchase of tickets at the ticket office or a trip "not through the ticket office"

This is the main problem of intercity bus transport in Crimea, which negates all the advantages of bus travel in the Crimea. We hope that someday this problem will be resolved, but so far the purchase of tickets at the bus stations of the Crimea is a real "thrash".

The crux of the problem is this. Departure of passengers on intercity buses in the Crimea is always made through the ticket offices of bus stations, i.e. tickets are not bought from the driver, but strictly at the box office. The ticket indicates the seat number, and everything seems to be correct and convenient, if not for one thing... people are standing in huge queues at the ticket offices, while the buses they need go empty, because they simply do not have time to buy tickets. In reality, you can stand for several hours in line at the ticket office and not buy a ticket for the bus you need today, while dozens of buses with two or three passengers will set off during this time. The reason for such sluggishness of ticket sellers is not clear to us, but the fact remains. Such problems are especially evident at large bus stations in the cities of Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Evpatoria, Sudak, Feodosia. By the evening, the queues usually fall off, but in the first half of the day at these stations there is just pandemonium with scandals and almost "bruising".

But a trained independent tourist has no problems anywhere, and even this one is being solved. The easiest and most reliable way to solve it is to purchase tickets in advance, for example, in the evening, on the previous day, an hour or half an hour before the box office closes, when the queues decrease.

Another common way is to sit down with the driver. Almost all drivers pick up passengers without tickets and accept payment in cash, and sometimes this is a real salvation for travelers. Moreover, most often drivers charge even a little less than at the checkout.

You can get hooked right at the station from the platform where the buses leave, at the exit from the bus station or anywhere along the route on the street. It is best to sit down directly at the station. To do this, find the right bus and ask the driver to "pick you up". Further, depending on the situation, you will either be put on the bus right on the spot (if the driver settles the issue with the controller), or the driver will send you to the right place (usually either the exit from the station or the nearest bus stop), where you will be picked up.

The disadvantage of" podsadki" is that, there is a chance that you will have to go standing or sitting on suitcases, as sometimes buses are packed. Even together with the driver, you seem to violate the internal rules of the carrier, and besides the traffic rules, because long-distance transportation of passengers standing is prohibited. But, fortunately, so far the traffic police in the Crimea has not adapted to the new tough Russian conditions, and such "transplants" are widespread. In addition, sometimes this is really your only chance to go somewhere, and you should not forget about it and express gratitude to the drivers also in the form of a frank thank you, and not be rude about the fact that you did not get a seat.

By the way, at the bus station in Sevastopol, we even observed "pomogala", which gathered those who did not want to stand in line, and took them to the right bus stop. Of course, this helped in the share with the driver, and he does not need to pay anything in addition to the fare.

Crossings with transfers

Not everywhere and always you can get on buses directly, so do not be afraid to go with transfers. Almost everywhere in the Crimea you can get with a transfer in Simferopol, since this is the largest transport hub and there are several bus stations at once. At a cost it will be quite a bit more expensive, but you can save a lot of time.

Bus schedules

Schedules for many flights are available via the Yandex. schedules service, as well as at information booths at bus stations. But not all buses are reflected in Yandex.schedules, and the information on the information stands of bus stations does not always have time to be updated, because everything changes so quickly, especially with the beginning of the tourist season. Therefore, the surest way to find out about the availability of flights and their schedule is directly at the ticket office of the bus station.