Transporte en Bogotá, Parte 2

Attempts at building a subway system here in Bogotá have so far been fruitless, even though the demand is definitely there. Instead, for the past 10 years the city has been constructing a rapid bus system called the Transmilenio. It is a system of dedicated bus lanes on major streets and highways within the city, with the long, articulated red buses stopping at subway-like above-ground stations. At 1600 pesos, the fare is slightly more than a buseta, but the experience is vastly different.

The buses are not stuck in regular traffic, although at rush hour the quantity of Transmilenio buses that are on the road is impressive, as busses pull into a station one after another. The trick is that because not all routes stop at every station, is to find out the optimal route that will take you to your destination faster, and with the fewest transfers.

Word of the day: taquilla

Taquilla, which looks deceptively like tequila, is not an alcoholic drink. A taquilla exists at every station on the Transmilenio; it is the ticket booth, where during rush hour queues of more than 30 or forty people can form. The taquillas can either sell you a one-ride card that will be eaten up when you enter the faregate, or you also can buy or recharge a mutli-ride touch-fare card.

Riding the Transmilenio is not an idyllic experience by any means. There are between 1 and 2 million people using the system daily, and it is packed throughout the day and most evenings. It is a rare but pleasurable event to get your own seat. Also, the ride can be quite bumpy since the buses try to speed up, but soon have to slow down, and the road surface is in constant repair. Finally, although the system is quite expansive, it does not exist on all major streets, and one may have to walk quite a bit to get to a Transmilenio station, which is unfortunately the case for us.

Synopsis: the Transmilenio is a very high quality bus system, but it is no substitute for a highly needed urban rail network, which is hopefully in the works for Bogotá in the intermediate future. Nonetheless it is arguably better than any bus system in the United States, any to me is highly superior to the busetas, with admittedly a lot less local color.