Transmilenio is the rapid transit system in Bogota that was built about ten years ago as a substitute for a Metro. It looks and feels like a Metro train, however, and is one of the best things about getting around in the city. Before Transmilenio, apparently, life was hell.
There are a couple Transmilenio routes at present (and more to come, supposedly), but the only one I ever use is the one that runs basically along the Autopista from the north end of town to the center (it goes further south than that, but I have not yet been south of El Centro). The bus lanes are in the middle of the highway, and separated from the car lanes by barriers, so that the buses NEVER have to stop for traffic, though they do have to stop at lights. Transmilenio stations are also in the middle of the highway, and made to look like subway stations. You access them through bridges and walkways that usually take you up and over the highway. Once you have a card, you swipe it to enter a station and from there on can go anywhere in the system you choose until you exit a station.? This is good, since the first few times I rode it I ended up in the wrong place, and could backtrack and correct myself without exiting and paying again.
Currently Transmileinio costs COP$1,200 (one thousand, two hundred Colombian pesos) per ride, which is about USD$0.55. Cheap by US standards, though to most Colombians it’s just a fair price.? You can buy a card good for as many rides as you like. In the mornings you will see Colombians lined up 100 at a time to buy cards, because for the most part they don’t really believe in planning ahead too much.
Transmilenio moves thousands and thousands of people daily. People say there is a plan to build a modified version of Transmilenio on the Septima, which I think sounds great. The system is clean, safe (mostly), and very popular. In fact, some Colombians call it Transmi-Lleno–lleno is the Spanish word for full–because atrush hour it can be a job to get on or off one of the buses because of the crowds of people.
The Problems:? Transmi-lleno!
There are two problems with the system that people talk about. The first one is the overcrowding, but regular buses are often overcrowded also. Colombians are not in the habit of doing things in an organized way, so where, in DC for instance, when a Metro train stops and the people waiting on the platform let the train riders exit before trying to board themselves, in Bogota it’s one mass surge by the boarders and the deboarders to get where you are going. Everybody pushes in both directions, but somehow it usually manages to sort itself out. Maybe some people miss their stops and some people miss their buses, but that just teaches them to get in better position for the next try.
I actually think that the design of the stations could be tweaked a little to help correct some of the traffic flow problems, but that’s for much later or never, if you know how Colombian bureaucrats do things. A few different routes will all board at the same door, and people waiting to get on a particular bus (coming later) would never consider moving out of the way for people who want to board the bus that happens to be the one pulling up at the moment.
The other problem is a social and political one. When a new Transmilenio line opened up while I lived in Bogota, there were many protests by the owners of the private buses.? Since a Transmilenio line on a particular street means the private buses can’t do that route anymore, some people are angry that bus drivers are being put out of work. In theory, the response to this is that the bus drivers and others can get jobs with Transmilenio, but I don’t think that happens, for the most part. Unemployment in Colombia is extremely high, and in most situations you have to have a connection to get a job, and the people who own and run the Transmilenio system aren’t going to take just anybody off the street.
When the private buses protested the opening of a Transmilenio line, I felt like they had a legitimate beef, until I heard that most of the private buses are actually owned by a few wealthy families. They wanted the government to buy their broken down jalopy style buses as compensation for Transmilenio taking away their business, but they also wanted exhorbitant prices. For an independent guy who owns his own bus after scraping for years to get to that point, I think this is totally legitimate, but those stories are few and far between.
The folks who run the system still hace some work to do to facilitate things for the riders. In Portal Norte, the northern terminus, they took down directional signs when routes were rearranged, and now, almost a year later, they haven’t gotten around to putting them back up again.? The system is kind of confusing if you’re not a regular rider, or if you want to go somewhere not on your regular route. There are maps, apparently, but they are harder to come by than New York City subway maps, so I’ve given up trying to get one of my own.
The Latest Word
Now there is talk that there will not be Transmilenio on Septima, because it would cost too much to implement, and take too long for the city to make back its money. Of course, they don’t consider things like quality of life and improved economy in these decisions. But, the alternative on the table is for the city to build bus stops and police them. That should help, but knowing Bogota, I would have to say: good luck!
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