Getting Around Kiev: By metro

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The Metro (Ukrainian: Метро) is a very fast subway system, and is easy to navigate once you realize that all three metro lines (red, blue and green) go through city centre. In total there are 47 metro stations in Kiev as of May, 2009.

When you enter the Metro, you must purchase a token to travel from the cashdesk, Kasa (Ukrainian: каса). One token is valid for one trip, no matter how far you go. A token is 1.70 UAH (17 eurocents/ 22 cents as of May, 2009) and one needs to slip the token into the turnstyles to enter. (Just a note of caution, make sure you walk through the correct side of the turn style or you will be hit with a metal gate that will slam shut.) You can also obtain a monthly ticket with a magnet tape, which is only available for sale during the first week of the calendar month or the third week for half the price (actually not strictly so).

At platform level, all signage is in Cyrillic www.borispil.kiev.ua/transport/detail/metro.html, so it's best to correlate the Cyrillic station names on the wall to the transliterated names on your map book. Once inside the train, the metro route maps over central windows have names transliterated into latin letters, and there is a station announcement as the metro approaches each station as well as TV screens in all carraiges that between stations show adverts, but flag up the impending station as it approaches it, and the next staion as it departs. Unfortunately not all trains are equipped with the TV screens.

Metro stations where you can interchange have two different names - one for each line. If you're changing lines, the other station can be reached by an overpass in the centre or one of the ends of the platform.

Trains run every 30 sec. to 2:30 minutes in business hours and from 10 to 15 minutes from 11PM till 1AM at the last station. Even so, they are often very crowded. And be prepared to push, as this may be the only way you get on the train, during peak hours.

It's interesting to note that the Kiev metro has some of the deepest stations in the world. The Arsenal'na station (Ukrainian: Арсенальна) station is the deepest metro station in the world, at 107 meters deep, and the Universytet station (Ukrainian: Університет) has one of the longest escalators in the world (87 meters long).

If you enable "Cell Info Display" on your GSM phone, it will show you the name of the station (in transliterated Latin characters... (for UMC and Kyivstar) just like your map) when you are underground in the vicinity of a station. And your mobile/cell/handy should work on most of the network, including between stations.

• www.borispil.kiev.ua/transport/detail/metro.html