Overview
The Tashkent Metro is the rapid transit system serving Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It opened on 6 November 1977, making it the seventh metro system built in the former USSR and the first in Central Asia. It is the only metro in Uzbekistan and in all of Central Asia, and it is located exclusively in Tashkent.
For a visitor, the metro is fast, safe and inexpensive, and it is the obvious way to reach the city centre from the main railway station. It does not, however, reach the airport or the bus terminal. The system is known for its large, richly themed stations — each station's architecture and décor reflects its name, and prominent Uzbek architects and artists took part in their design, using materials such as metal, glass, plastic, granite, marble, smalt, ceramics and alabaster. One peculiarity is the metro's rather shallow depth, with tunnels varying between 8 and 25 metres.
Riding end to end is straightforward: enter through a turnstile, tap or scan your ticket, ride as far as you like, and exit. Fare enforcement takes place at the points of entry to the stations; once you have entered the system, there are no further ticket checks, and you can travel to any number of stations and make transfers within the system freely. Trains run every 3 to 10 minutes until 23:30, and the system's operating hours are generally given as 06:00 to 00:00. Photography inside the metro was strictly prohibited by law until 31 May 2018, when the ban was abolished with effect from 1 June 2018 — so you can now photograph the stations.
The network
Tashkent's public transport is a mix of metro, buses, long-distance and suburban rail, and inter-city shared taxis. Note that the city's trams were scrapped in 2016, with some tramways converted into bus lanes, so you will not find a tram or light-rail network in Tashkent today.
Metro
The Tashkent Metro operates four lines. Sources differ slightly on the current totals: the system is described as having four lines on 70.4 km of route serving 50 stations, and elsewhere as running 66.5 km of route and serving 48 stations, with the Circle Line still under extension. In 2025 the metro carried 286.8 million passengers, a daily average of approximately 785,000.
- Chilonzor Line (red) — opened in 1977 between Olmazor and Amir Temur Khiyoboni, extended to Buyuk Ipak Yoli in 1980, and extended 7 km south from Olmazor to Quipchoq (5-Bekat) in the Sergeli district in December 2020. It is 23.7 km long with 17 stations.
- Oʻzbekiston Line (blue) — opened in 1984 and expanded between 1984 and 1991. It crosses the city diagonally from northwest to southeast via the Toshkent Railway station, and is 14.3 km long with 11 stations.
- Yunusobod Line (green) — the first 10.5 km section with 8 underground stations opened on 24 October 2001 between Ming Oʻrik and Shahriston. Work is under way to connect the northern districts to the airport in the south, but the extension towards the airport has stalled. A northern extension of two stations, Turkiston and Yunusobod, opened on 29 August 2020.
- Circle Line (gold) — construction started in October 2017, developed jointly with specialists from Russia, Turkey and Germany. Its first section opened on 30 August 2020 with seven stations over 11 km; a five-station extension from Qoʻyliq to Quruvchilar opened on 25 April 2023, and a further two-station extension was completed on 11 March 2025. When completed it is planned to serve 35 stations over 52.1 km, largely elevated. It is incomplete and not a true circle, but it spans between the south termini of the blue and red lines.
There are three downtown interchanges, all involving a walk through connecting subways: Amir Temur Hiyoboni (red) with Yunus Rajabiy (green), Alisher Navoiy (green) with Paxtakor (red), and Oybek (blue) with Ming Oʻrik (green). Circle Line interchanges are Texnopark with Doʻstlik (blue) and Qipchoq with Chinor (red).
Buses
The main downtown public transport is the bus. Tashkent's buses are lime green, and their destination boards alternate between Russian and Uzbek. The bus system is cashless: you can pay with major credit cards (Visa, Mastercard), or with an ATTO transport card obtained from a post office or metro ticket point. Bus route signage is in Uzbek, and drivers can be asked for help, though foreign languages are rarely spoken — Russian is mostly spoken by the older generation. Buses and minibuses are generally cheap but often overcrowded and without air conditioning.
Probably the simplest way to plan a bus journey is to type "yandex bus map tashkent" into your browser, which brings up a live map of buses moving around the city; zoom onto your start point or destination, click a bus icon, and its route is revealed.
Rail
Rail connects a limited set of cities, including Tashkent–Bukhara, Tashkent–Andijan, Tashkent–Urgench and Tashkent–Termez, plus a high-speed train to Samarkand. Fast trains such as Afrosiob and Sharq run from Bukhara four times a day, taking 4 hr 30 min via Samarkand, and there are eight trains a day from Samarkand. Tashkent has two railway stations: Tashkent Railway Station (Tashkent Pass Tsentral), reached by metro at Toshkent station, and South Station (Janubiy Vokzal). Passengers must board or take their seat 30 minutes before departure or may be denied entry.
Ferries
The source material does not describe any ferry or waterborne public transport service in Tashkent.
Tickets & fares
Fares are approximate and change; they are set by the operator and subject to revision. The metro uses a flat fare for any journey — there are no distance bands, and the price is the same regardless of distance or number of line changes on a single entry. Plastic tokens were withdrawn in 2020 and fully replaced by the ATTO card from 1 November 2020.
- Electronic fare (card, phone or app): 1,700 soʻm.
- Cash fare (single-use paper QR ticket from a station self-service kiosk or the cashier): 3,000 soʻm. The cash fare has deliberately been kept higher than the electronic fare since 2025 to encourage cashless payment.
- Transfers to other public transport such as buses are not covered by the metro ticket, although some discounts or cashbacks are offered by mobile apps and card systems. One quirk: a transfer at the joint point between the Sergeli line's end station and Qipchoq station adds an extra 2,000 soʻm if paid with cash, or 1,700 soʻm or cheaper depending on the type of electronic payment.
The system is almost entirely cashless and tap-and-ride. Turnstiles have contactless validators accepting the ATTO transport card, contactless bank cards (Visa, Mastercard, Uzcard, Humo), a phone with a card in its wallet, or a QR code via Uzbek payment apps. Selected stations offer biometric entry — facial recognition and palm payment linked to a registered account.
The ATTO card is Uzbekistan's unified transport card, valid on the Tashkent metro and city buses and in around 20 other cities. There are four types: blue (general public), green (pupils), yellow (students) and red (pensioners); the latter three give roughly 50% off and require proof of eligibility. You can buy a card at a metro ticket office, a bus ticket point or a post office, and a virtual card is available in the ATTO mobile app. Top up via the ATTO app (linked bank card), Uzbek payment apps (Payme, Click, Uzum, Apelsin), self-service kiosks in metro stations, ticket offices or post offices. You can check your balance in the ATTO app, at station kiosks, at ticket offices, at post offices or in payment apps; the turnstile validator shows confirmation on tap. There is no public website or API for online balance lookup, and third-party sites claiming this are unreliable.
Period passes — daily, monthly and annual — can be held on an ATTO card and set in the app or at a ticket office; they are not available on cash tickets. Pass prices are set by the operator and change periodically, so check current rates in the ATTO app. The source material does not describe a dedicated tourist pass.
Practical guidance for visitors: the simplest option is to tap a contactless bank card or phone on the turnstile (1,700 soʻm). Without a contactless card, buy a paper QR ticket for cash at a station kiosk (3,000 soʻm). For a longer stay, buy a blue ATTO card and top it up in the app; it also works on city buses.
From the airport
Tashkent International Airport (TAS) is 8 km south of the city centre. The metro does not reach the airport, so you will need a bus or a taxi.
- City buses: the bus stand is 50 m away across the parking lot — from Arrivals, bear left to reach it. Buses run 06:00–22:00. Buses 47, 11 (northbound) and 9 take about 40 minutes to the city centre; Bus 40 runs to the main railway station; Bus 67 goes to Oybek metro and on to the central square. Bus 11 southbound goes to the domestic terminal. Fares are trifling, but you need Uzbek small change.
- Airport transfer bus: the airport's "Uzport" transfer bus runs hourly.
- Taxi: the official taxi rank is just outside Terminal 2. Ignore touts and other offers, and if possible arrange your ride through your accommodation or via Yandex Go. The ride takes about 15 minutes to the city centre, and in 2025 a local might pay 25,000 soʻm (about US$2), which is the rate in the Yandex app. Visitors risk being charged a ransom, so always negotiate and fix the fare in advance, and make sure it covers all of you with luggage if you cannot use the app. If you bought a travel e-sim before arriving, Yandex Go can freeze and fail to load, in which case you may need a VPN to make it work.
Note that the international terminal T2 is on the north side of the runway, with T1 adjacent as simply an arrivals hall; domestic flights use Terminal 3, 4 km south across the runway. To transfer from an international to a domestic flight you must clear immigration and customs with your luggage, which is not through-checked, then look for the bus — taxi drivers will insist it is not running.
Etiquette & customs
The source material does not set out detailed riding etiquette for Tashkent, so treat the following as general good practice rather than local rules.
- Queuing: expect queues at ticket offices and security checks, and at railway stations in particular the queues are described as chaotic — allow extra time and stay patient.
- Escalators: some metro stations have escalators. Stand on the right and walk on the left, the common convention on post-Soviet systems.
- Quiet and priority seating: be considerate with noise, and give up priority seats to older passengers, people with reduced mobility and those with children.
- Eating and drinking: the source material does not state specific rules, so avoid eating and drinking on trains and keep the ornate stations clean.
- Rush hour: the metro is busy, carrying roughly 785,000 passengers a day, and buses and minibuses are often overcrowded. Travel outside peak times if you can, and keep bags close.
- Photography: the long-standing ban on photography in the metro was abolished from 1 June 2018, so you may now photograph the stations.
- Language: foreign languages are rarely spoken on the network; Russian is mostly spoken by the older generation, and bus signage is in Uzbek.
Survival terms
- Metro / subway: metropoliten (метрополитен) — metro
- Ticket: chipta (чипта) — ticket
- Line: yoʻnalish (йўналиш) — line / route
- Entrance: kirish (кириш) — entrance
- Exit: chiqish (чиқиш) — exit
- Transfer: oʻtish (ўтиш) — transfer / change
- Single fare: bir martalik chipta (бир марталик чипта) — single ticket
- Day pass: kunlik chipta (кунлик чипта) — day pass
Before you travel, load the ATTO app and a contactless bank card on your phone so you can tap straight through the turnstiles at the cheaper electronic fare and avoid hunting for cash.