It is best of all to have transportation by your company or by people whom you know. Especially when you are coming to Almaty airport, it is important to have someone arrange a taxi for you. The ride from the airport will cost about US$7. You should be careful to ask the person arranging the car beforehand for the name of your driver and have it written down.
When you are in the city, if there is no possibility to have a car from your company , you might consider mass transit or a cab. There are buses, trolleybuses, and trams (streetcars) in Almaty. It is very difficult to know where this or that bus or trolleybus is going, so it is better to ask beforehand. There are no schedules available. If you know Russian, it will be much easier: you can ask people at a bus stop. Transportation in Almaty is sometimes a challenge even for Almaty dwellers. Public transport is no longer under state control and is being actively privatized. New bus routes appear every day and old ones are being cancelled. Anyway, it is not a problem to move around the city by bus, tram or trolleybus until 10 pm after which time only taxis are available. Taxis can be ordered at the telephones 058 or 007. Expatriates say it is OK to use private taxi drivers (car owners who earn their living by taxing without a license) as long as you take some precautions. Sit in cars with a driver and no passengers only. Agree on the fee in advance and preferably in Russian and pay it in tenge. Speak as little English as possible. If you are with a local friend ask him or her to catch a taxi for you and agree on the fee. You can ask your friends putting you in a taxi to remember the number of the car.
For trams, trolleybuses and state owned buses the fee is 20 tenge. There are plenty of private buses (their numbers have 3 digits and begin with 4 or 5), which charge 25-30 tenge. Sometimes it is practical to buy month transport tickets (900 tenge), which are available until the eighth day of each month for trolleybuses and trams from ticket collectors. Beware of thieves in public transport and public places .
There is another type of transportation, which is literally called ‘a route taxi’. Those are little vans that work like buses having their own routes. As of February 2001 it cost 20 tenge (14 cents) to ride a bus, trolleybus or a tram. The vans are 30 tenge (21 cents).
The best, but more expensive way of commuting is a taxi. If you need it, stand on the edge of a road and raise your hand. Very soon somebody will stop. The car wouldn’t necessarily have a ‘taxi’ sign. You should tell the driver how much you are going to pay, because if you ask drivers how much it costs, they reply with the question how much you would like to pay. It will cost you 200 tenge (US$1.36) or less to ride from any point to another point within the city. You can also order a cab by phone. This is probably the safest and most expensive way to commute. They charge you by their meter.
