The Wheels on the Colectivo Go Round and Round
Buenos Aires is not a walk-able city. I have discovered this many times throughout my short stay here. Most of my classmates live about an hour walk away from my apartment, therefore public transportation is a necessity for navigating this wide-spread capital. Nicola and I normally take the Colectivo wherever we need to go. The Colectivo is Buenos Aires’ extensive bus system and name for the word “bus.” I made the mistake of calling a Colectivo bus an “un autobús” once, and after being reprimanded by my host mother, I now refer to the system only as the Colectivo. Using this method of transportation is quite easy to do. At each stop around the city, the sign marking the stop lists the barrios the Colectivo stops in. When boarding the bus, you simply tell the driver the name of the area or street you want to go to and he inputs the price for that trip to a computer system that you then tap with your “sube” card. Trips cost roughly five or six pesos and Sube cards can be purchased at any convenience store or “Kiosco.” They can be charged like Charlie Cards and used on the Colectivo and the subway system called the Subte.
The Subte is comparable to the T in Boston. It spreads far across the city and can be easily understood even if you don’t speak Spanish. Nicola and I will take the Subte for longer journeys that we don’t know how to take by Colectivo. The downsides to taking the Subte are that it is ridiculously crowded during rush hours, sometimes too crowded to even board a train when it passes, and it is more expensive than the Colectivo by about two pesos.
Because the Subte stops running at around 10:45pm each night and the Colectivo begins to run less frequently, it is usually best to take a taxi or an Uber when going out with friends and coming home late. Most Porteños do not use Uber because they feel it takes potential business away from the many taxi drivers of the city. It is common to see taxis with the phrase “afuera Uber” written on the back windows. I welcome Uber rides, however, because most taxi rides lasting longer than ten minutes will cost over 100 pesos. This translates to only about seven US dollars, but Uber rides are a bit less expensive and I always tend to choose the cheaper option.
Although I have been doing a whole lot of walking around Buenos Aires, I most frequently take the Colectivo to and from places. Learning to get around this city has been quite the adventure. I have ended up in the wrong place and going the wrong direction a few times, but I learn quickly from my mistakes and I know consider myself a well-versed traveler, capable of conquering the streets of this Argentinian capital.
