Public Transportation

Public Transportation.

I have a love/hate relationship with public transportation. On one hand, you can be a passive traveler. I have yet to find a way to read or study while I’m driving but on a bus, all I have to do is look up once in a while so I don’t miss my stop.

On the other hand, if you try to go anywhere during rush hour, your personal space bubble will most likely disappear. You will be pressed up against whoever is next to you and will have to crawl and wiggle to get around people when you need to get off.

Public transportation in Santa Cruz is like the Knight Bus in Harry Potter. There are lots of sudden starting, stopping and near crashes. The only thing the Harry Potter bus needs to make it a perfect simile is more people, lots more people. 

Let me share with you some of the things I have learned about the Bolivian public transportation, in case you ever find yourself needing to use it.

To start with, there are no designated bus stops here. To get on a bus, you wait along the street curb until the correctly numbered bus comes along. Then just reach out your hand and give a little wave and the driver will swerve right over to pick you up. It’s important to hop on as quickly as you can. If the bus goes past you, you may have to run to get on before the driver gets tired of waiting – the drivers here have the patience of two year olds. Likewise, when you need to get off, you simply yell out “pare, por favor!” and, as long as he hears you and your accent isn’t too heavy, the bus driver will pull over and let you off.

When you are getting on, it is always prudent to do a bit of forward thinking and try to anticipate what things will be like when you need to get off. One time I made the mistake of sitting in the very back because the bus wasn’t very full when I got on. By the time I had to get off, it had filled up so much that it took me two blocks of climbing over people and saying “excuse me” before I could squeeze my way out the door.

There you go! If you are ever using similar public transportation, I hope you find this helpful. If nothing else, perhaps it will make you appreciate your car a bit more!