El Colectivo

The public transportation system in Buenos Aires is fantastic. I think I've discussed the system in a previous blog post. Anyway, the majority of my experience with the system is through the colectivo, aka the bus. The colectivo is awesome. Riding it is a ton of fun. I take the 106 to class every day.

The fare is ochenta pesos, which comes out to roughly 25 US cents. Not bad, especially because it's possible to ride a route for more than an hour. Each line of buses in Buenos Aires is unique because the buses are privately owned. Therefore, the buses all look different because the companies will paint the buses different colors. For example, the 106 is painted white, red, and green. And there is also a drawing of a rose on the side of the bus. Apparently, back in the 70's, the bus companies would paint the buses crazy colors, like hot pink, to make their buses stand out in hopes of attracting more customers. My guess is that most people don't choose what bus they ride based on the how the bus looks.

The buses are usually very crowded, sometimes so much so that you have to wait for the next bus to board. Open seats are very rare. On the occasions when I am lucky enough to get a seat, I usually end up getting up after one or two stops because it is good etiquette here to give your seat to an elderly woman or man.

The routes that the buses take are very confusing. I bought a little guide book for the bus system. It is ridiculously complicated. In a typical route, a bus will travel on twenty different streets. So following the routes on a map takes a lot of time.

The bus drivers here are very experienced. They know what they're doing. They always drive the buses extremely fast, I would say recklessly fast. I used to wonder how these buses never got into accidents. Yesterday, I stopped wondering because the bus I was on hit a cab. Just grazed it basically, though it made a loud thud. The bus driver was visibly upset and made a gesture with his hands indicating that the cab had just cut in front of him without any warning. So we had to stop and wait for five minutes or so while the bus driver talked with the taxi driver. And then we were back on our way. Luckily, no one was hurt in the accident. And I don't think the cab should have any trouble finding a mechanic in Buenos Aires who can fix the dent in his car. Seriously, there are probably 200 different mechanic shops within a one mile radius of me.