In preparation for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, volunteers will be stationed at special zones in Moscow’s central metro stations as well as main interchanges and railway terminals. These English-speaking staff and volunteers will help football fans navigate around the city as they explore Moscow during the month-long football tournament.
The city’s tourism aid consists of 100 metro staff and 100 volunteers. Their main assignment is to assist foreign tourists and World Cup fans on how to reach the stadiums and how to navigate the directions going to tourist attractions in the city.
First deputy head of the Moscow Metro (Customer Service and Strategic Development) Roman Latypov said, “These employees will be at metro stations inside the Circle Line (Line 5), and at stations located near the stadiums – Sportivnaya (near Luzhniki) and Spartak (near Spartak Stadium). Volunteers will be posted at designated five-meter areas at information desks. We will organise these areas at 14 central and major railway interchange stations, as well as stations near stadiums.â€
The English-speaking volunteers can be found at the following metro lines and stations:
Line 1
• Okhotny Ryad
• Lubyanka
Line 2
• Paveletskaya
Line 3
• Arbatskaya
• Smolenskaya
Line 5
• Komsomolskaya
• Park Kultury
• Kievskaya
• Krasnopresnenskaya
• Belorusskaya
• Oktyabrskaya
Line 6
• VDNKh
Other Stations
• Teatralnaya (the joint lobby between Teatralnaya and Ploshchad Revolutsii)
• Kitai-Gorod (exit to Zaryadye Park)
In addition to employees and volunteers at the Moscow Metro, cashiers at the stations are also being taught English phrases that will be commonly used when transacting with foreign tourists and customers. They will undergo training so that they will be able to communicate with tourists on how to navigate the metro system, how to top-up money on the transport card, and what the different kinds of tickets are for.
FIFA World Cup 2018 will begin on June 14, 2018 and will last a whole month until the final match on July 15, 2018. The opening match and final game will be held at Luzhniki Grand Sports Arena in Moscow. Fans with ID cards will get free transportation on the metro, monorail and other vehicles.