How To Ride A Bus in Bogota

The public transportation system in Bogota is hard to learn and use. Even if you want to learn how to use it, it is impossible because there is no information (brochures, maps, etc) about the bus routes. It is so bad that it is likely that this blog post contains the most information about how to use the bus system in Bogota. So, to tourist, here is what I have learned so far and I hope it helps. My only resource has been my Aunt – who has been very helpful, but she grew up in Bogota so...Otherwise, I would have no idea how to get around.

Compared the the U.S., the Bogota bus system is unorganized because it is not run by the government. Instead, it is a mix of private companies who rent out buses, hire drivers, or drivers who own their own buses. For this reason, the bus system works on whoever can make the most money, not necissarily providing a public service. Because of this, you may find buses competing to pick up passengers, often weaving though traffic, crossing lanes of traffic to pick up someone on the other side of the road. Other times, they may just drive right past you in a hurry to get home.

Waving down a bus, is not the hard part. There are a lot of buses to choose from, so just stick out your hand and you'll get one to stop. Once you get a bus to stop feel free to jump on or off whenever you need to. Often, it is not suprising if the bus driver lets you off in the middle of the street or you have to weaver in between cars to get to and from the sidewalk.

The hard part is trying to figure out where the buses go. It is hard to figure out where they go because, instead of a map, they have signs on the bus that are supposed to explain the bus's route. For example, the sign will say “122, K 15, Chapinero, Unicentro K 19 , Calle 134, Exito” But basically if you are not familiar with the city, this route doesn't make any sense.

What the sign is trying to explain is “Bus #122 will go down Carrera 15 through Chapinero (a neighborhood), until goes past Unicentro (a mall), then it'll take Carrera 19 until it turns onto Calle 134 and drives by the Exito (store). The problem is that in between these random landmarks, the bus could turn another way to get the next landmark, so you don't really know if it is going straight there or is taking a longer route. It's best to learn the names of the neighborhoods so at least you know you are going in the correct general direction. For example, if you take a bus that says “Unicentro” you know you'll end up around the mall eventually. Other than trial-and-error with the 30 buses that say “Unicentro”, it's a guessing game on which bus will take the best route there.

I really don't think that even people who grew up in Bogota know where these buses are going. I think it is a regular guessing game until you finally figure out which is the correct bus for you. Even Bogotanos often jump on to a bus to ask “Do you go by this and that place?”. If the bus driver says no, then they just jump off and wait for the next one to ask. I recommend you just ask so that you don't end up in the middle of nowhere like I did. If you start to see bonfires in the middle of the dirt road, you have gone to far.