Public Transportation

If you don’t have a car in Barranquilla you have three options for getting around: taxi, moto (motorcycle taxi), and bus.

BUS:

Trying to get on a bus is a lot like jumping into a double-dutch game. Sure it might slow down for you, but don’t expect it to stop. The second your foot touches the first step that bus is back to full speed. Your first obstacle is to climb up and push your way through the rotating gate. Once you get through you have to pay the bus driver, who turns around while driving to take your money (1.3 mil/.75 cents) and give you change.

Then comes the hardest part, trying to make it to a seat. This bus will come to sudden stops, jerking around to avoid cracks in the road and people as they play frogger. Colombians call these buses “erasers” because as Tavo says, “they erase people from this earth.”  If you can make it to a seat without falling into someone you are a better man than I. In my opinion these busses are better than the DC ones though. I think I was attacked by a crack head 80% of the time I rode a DC bus.

Now comes the part that’s especially difficult for me. Not all buses have a button to ask the driver to stop. So many times you have to yell at the driver from the back, which is really hard when you don’t know what to yell. Expect to be left at least one block away from where you intended to get off.

Taxi:

At first taxis will seem like heaven, especially after being on a bus.  A 10 minute cab ride is 6 mil/3 USD. I can see all my DC people’s faces as I’m writing this… I know, that is what you pay just to get in. There are three things you need to know before taking a taxi. 1) You will not stop at red lights after 9pm 2) you won’t go anywhere near the speed limit. You’ll want to learn how to say slow down (mas despacio) 3) If a taxi ever stops to pick you up at night and is full of people run, run very fast.

Moto:

You don’t want to ride one of these. It is cheaper than a cab and it will get you there faster… but think about it. This guy has been driving people around all day. It’s hot here, and you HAVE to put on the extra helmet he has been carrying around. People go to the hospital with funguses on their head because they put these things on. On top of that, what guy wants to ride on the back of a motorcycle?

While these things aren’t ideal, they are in their own way fun. It’s different, and an adventure if you make it one. I’ve jumped on a number of buses when I didn’t have anything to do just to go somewhere, and let it take me wherever it was going. I ended up downtown once, out in the country once, and even where I was trying to go a few times.