This application absolutely changed my visit to Odessa and was monumentally helpful. I visited Odessa the first time about 6 months ago on New Years and I wasn’t aware of Bond at the time and was advised against Uber by several service industry locals. My Russian language skills are of a moderate beginner and conversational, however negotiating prices with taxi drivers is something most of us will end up being on the losing side of (like paying $20 US dollars from the airport to a hotel before I knew better, my first and last time for doing that)
my second trip in June, the this app app changed all of that. Its clear and tracks the price just like a taxi meter does in the US, prices are fair, the drivers are good and helpful and when you get to the end, you pay what is on Bond .
The other benefit is you can enter the address where you want to go into Bond . We take this for granted in the US, but anyone who has tried to explain they wanted to go to the Тёщин мост (Teshin Bridge) and ended up being taken to “sushi” restaurant because your Russian was way off and driver heard something completely different, will appreciate the ability to take a moment, google map where you want to go, and enter it in Bond .
There are little nuances like if the driver uses the air conditioner (a luxury, for certain here) there is a small 10-15% change in fare, I actually found those to be interesting. Ride sharing exists and you get an option for that to split the costs of the trip, this app does all that for you and makes for some fun conversations with the locals. Bond makes getting around in the city easy