I’ve talked way too much on this blog about how much I prefer taking marshrutkas and buses to riding in taxis.  But, sometimes, you can’t get away from the fact that taxis are the only way that you’re going to get from point A to point B.  Confounding all of this is the fact that just about every city in the former USSR has a different approach to taxis.  Here’s a rough guide on navigating the major taxi systems of Kyrgyzstan (plus Almaty and Dushanbe).

Kyrgyzstan

Osh and Bishkek
In Kyrgyzstan, only a few taxi companies in Osh and Bishkek have meters.  In those cities, the metered taxis usually cost 40-50 som to get in, then 10 som per km after that.  With other companies (and drivers along the side of the road), you have to negotiate a price before you get in.  During the day, you can get a cheaper deal this way, but often times in Bishkek at night, they’ll try and charge you double at night as a foreigner.  They’ll even pretend that they don’t have a meter (even if you can see it in the front of their car).

In Osh, an even worse challenge arises: cheat buttons in the meters.  I’ve had this happen with every single metered company in Osh at night.  You get in the car, they start the meter, then they turn the screen off.  When you get to your destination, the fare is 1.5-2 times the fare it should be.  And because it’s on a meter, it’s almost impossible to argue your way out of.

One solution that works without fail in Bishkek is to just call a company like Namba that has meters in all their cars.  Namba is nice in that they also never mess with the meters (probably because the company texts the license plate number of the taxi you’ve called to you, so it’s very easy to track down a taxi driver if he tries to cheat you).

In Osh, I use my knowledge of taxi pricing to my advantage.  See, because I live on the very edge of the city, a taxi to my house is literally the most expensive taxi you can take in Osh: 110 som with an untainted meter (only 10% of my rides in Osh have had them not mess with the meter).  Because I know the exact price, I can just walk up to any person on the street (who looks reputable – solo female travelers might not be comfortable doing this), and say “I’ll pay you 120 som to take me to [my neighborhood].”  It has worked without problem every time.  Within the city of Osh, from the centre to any guest house should never cost you more than 70-100 som.

You can also use the meter fare structure to your advantage in Bishkek: by knowing how many KM, you can estimate your fare in advance.  Whether or not a driver will accept the fare is another thing.  I’ve managed to tell them a few times that “I only have 75 som left in my wallet” and had them fall for it.  Other times I’ve called them out on their cheat devices and said “I take this taxi every week and it only costs 70 som with the meter in Namba,” but your success with that depends on your language.

Generally, in Bishkek, call Namba or SMS taxi.  In Osh, know your fare ahead of time, and your meter less driver should accept it without much problem (100 som is more than fair for almost all journeys).

Bishkek and Osh Airports
At the airport, taxi drivers are very aggressive for customers, because the supply of taxis is higher than demand.  In Bishkek, a standard airport fare should be 500 som, but many taxi drivers have started trying to bluff that it is 700 som.  Stand your ground and ask around – there’s way more taxis than passengers.  If you do call a Namba to the airport to pick you up, it will be 700 som, while calling a Namba to take you to the airport will only cost 500.  If you need to pick someone up from the airport, Namba charges 1000 som for a taxi to the airport, who will wait with you for 1 hour, then drive you back into town – not that bad of a deal!  Bishkek airport does have the #380 marshrutka for 40 som that takes you straight into the center, if you are arriving during the day.

In Osh, the standard airport fare is 300 som in both directions, while the 107a and 142a marshrutkas go to the airport for 10 som (but stop at 7:30PM).  However, because of the large number of taxi drivers, you can sometimes negotiate your way down to 200 som or even less if you’re sharing the taxi with a few people, which is pretty cool.  At Osh Airport, you can usually also find taxis that are going directly to Jalal-Abad, Uzgen, and Aravan, for a small price premium over taxis from the normal area in downtown or the bus station.

In both cases, carry small bills – a lot of drivers don’t carry enough change to break anything larger than a 50, and I’ve had them even deny having 10 som before.  You can buy yourself a soda or pack of gum in the stores in the airport if you need to do this urgently.

Karakol
Karakol’s taxis work very differently, and since most visitors to Kyrgyzstan spend at least a  few days in Karakol, it’s worth including.  Taxis in Karakol are actually very simple: 70 som gets you the whole taxi from anywhere to anywhere.  It’s a great deal for going from the bus station to a guest house with baggage, although they sometimes charge a little extra for excess luggage.

Balykchy, Uzgen, and Others
I’m including Balykchy on this list because Balykchy uses a hybrid system for its taxis.  Like Karakol, within Balykchy you can go from anywhere to anywhere for a flat rate of 40 som.  But they also have shared taxis that run up and down the main street that are only 15 som, so long as you don’t turn off of it.  Uzgen also has shared taxis that run the length of the main street for a flat fee of 10 som.

Intercity Taxis
Getting to some places in Kyrgyzstan requires travel in shared taxis, since there isn’t enough traffic to justify a marshrutka.  Other times, you’ll want a car to yourself, or you can’t spare the extra time it takes to travel by marshrutka.  In these cases, you can hire a taxi to go from A to B.

For some routes you’re best off arranging it through CBT (eg Naryn to Osh – only a few cars go on that road a day, let alone taxis!), but for other routes, lots of drivers go regularly.

• Step 1 is to ask your hosts what the standard price is ahead of time.  For example, a taxi to Kurshab is 50 or 60 som per seat.  If you want the car to yourself, multiply that by the number of seats in the car.
• Step 2 is to find out where the taxis leave from.  In most cities, they leave from the immediate vicinity of the main bus station, but in other cities, and for certain routes, they leave from a different corner, which may be across town.  For example, in Osh, taxis to Uzgen, Alay, and Jalal-Abad congregate near Kelechek bazaar, which is a 15 minute marshrutka ride from the main bus station.  Bishkek taxis can be found in both locations for 1000-1200 som usually.
• Step 3 is to go and negotiate your price.  Most of the inter-city drivers are pretty professional I’ve found, and will usually name the proper price immediately.  But in case they don’t, you should know it in advance.
• Step 4 is to get in and wait for it to fill up and go!

Almaty

In Almaty, a variant of the flat-price model is used, but it’s modified, because Almaty is ENORMOUS.  The first thing you’ll notice in Almaty is that there are literally no taxis.  This is the case in many former Soviet cities, because in the Soviet era, every car was a taxi, and people would just pull over and pick each other up to carpool without even thinking about it (in rural Kyrgyzstan, especially in Naryn, this is still the case – hitchhiking is completely normal and most locals rely on it).  For short trips in Almaty, you can hold your arm out with the palm facing down, and cars will pull over to ask where you’re going.  300-500 KZT is fair for short trips.  You can also have your hotel call and negotiate a price for you to more distant destinations.  In this case, expect to pay 1000 KZT or so.

Using an app like 2GIS, you can also look up the distance to your destination, then using that information, you can calculate the fare you should propose.  3km should be about 700 KZT.  Add 100 KZT for every km beyond that.

Trips to Medeo and Shymbulak will cost you at least 4,000 KZT, so just take the number 12 bus from in front of the Hotel Kazakhstan instead – it’s just as fast for 120 KZT (exact change needed, you also might need a bus smart card – I’ve heard conflicting information about this).

Unlike in Bishkek, there are no metered taxis in Almaty, so especially with the airport, it is critical to agree on a price before allowing a driver to even touch your luggage.  I’ve heard too many stories of people being forced to pay hundreds of dollars for Almaty airport taxis because they didn’t agree on a price beforehand.  The fare negotiation for the airport should start at 2,000 KZT, but sadly is highly dependent on your bargaining ability and language skills, so don’t hesitate to have your hotel do it for you if you can.  You’re more likely to get a better deal at the airport by going directly to the taxi company desk or by going straight to the curb’s taxi stand and looking for the cleaner white taxis.  A fare above 4,000 KZT is too much.

Finally, in Almaty especially, drivers will “not have change” when you most need them to. Thus, always be sure to carry small KZT bills, like the 200 KZT bill etc. in case a driver either really does not have change or “doesn’t have change.”

Dushanbe

Dushanbe has my favorite taxi situation in Central Asia (Sorry, Kyrgyzstan).  Just call 1616 for Asian Exchange taxi, and you’ll get a brand spanking new Toyota Camry taxi with a professional driver and a bulletproof meter to drive you to your destination for a reasonable fare.  I can’t seem to find exact data (my memory is a bit outdated since I didn’t have to use them often), but expect to pay 20-30 Somoni for a ride from Public Pub to the most distant guest houses (but be prepared for it to be different – I’m not 100% certain).

Besides their one metered company, Dushanbe also has the standard fleet of fare-negotiating taxi drivers.  But it also has the most glorious shared-taxi network I’ve ever seen.

In Dushanbe, just about everyone keeps a few laminated numbers in their car.  They correspond to specific bus routes that the cars will follow at ten times the speed of the bus.  For just 3 Somoni.  The #3 is convenient and runs from the Vodinasos bazaar in the north of the city the entire length of Rudaki to the train station.  The #8 runs from the airport via Rudaki to the US Embassy past the Hyatt.  95% of my travel was concentrated on those two lines.  Just tell the driver where to stop in and you’re set.

 

So there you have it!  A layman’s guide to taxi pricing and a few examples of how it’s different from city to city and country to country.  I just wish that the US had proper shared taxis!  Apart from an informal system in Oakland for Bay Bridge commuters, I don’t know of anything like it.  If you do, let me know in the comments – I’d love to learn more!