There are many taxi companies in Moscow and a number of them offer English speaking staff that can assist you with ordering a taxi.  Taxi companies come in a range of quality, from taxis that are all badged and the same model cars, to fleets of privately owned cars with no badging, operating with a common dispatch system.  Rates will vary from traditional metered fares to negotiated fares or fixed fares for some standard trips - airports, train stations etc.

In addition to official taxis, there are many people at airports and train stations that will offer you a taxi service, that do not belong to any taxi group and simply offer their services as a private taxi.  Using those taxis will require you to have both Russian language skills to be able to provide proper directions and to negotiate a price for the trip.  Unless you are with a Russian speaking person, we do not recommend that you try to use unofficial taxis, due to both personal safety issues and the risk of overcharging.

The third type of taxi in Moscow is the passing motorist.  Any person can walk to a Moscow street and put out their arm and any car driving past may stop and negotiate a price with you to drive you to your destination.  It is a very common practice and happens all over Russia.  Again, you have no idea who you are getting into the car with and unless you are a Russian speaker or with a Russian speaker, it is not a method of transport that we would advise you to try.  You should never get into a car alone if there is more than 1 person in the car that is offering to drive you.  Even though we do not recommend it for visitors, this method of private taxi transport is quite cost efficient and is used by millions of Russians each day without incident.