The bus system overall is excellent here: you can ride a bus to ANYWHERE practically FREE. All you need is time. And to be perfectly honest, unless you happen to be driving when there is no traffic which would have to be the middle of the night, you aren’t looking at too much extra of that.
It’s $1 to ride a bus from my house to San José round-trip. In the car, it’s at least $3 plus $5 in parking. Add the traffic factor and, once you’ve got the buses figured out, why would anyone drive?
The trouble is in the whole figuring out process. Like figuring out which bus goes where. After figuring out where to catch a bus at all. In a few places – very few – bus stops are easy to find. In fabulous downtown Escazú, for instance, you have very modern plexiglass and metal bus shelters with large billboard ads on the sides. Just like in Manhattan.
But everywhere else, like at my stop, there’s nothing to indicate Bus Stop. Nothing at all, except sometimes people hanging around looking expectant. Photo left is Ryan and a lady waiting for the bus to go downtown. No sign anywhere. No nothing. But we always see people here and sometimes we see an actual bus. Photo right is where we get off the bus – I’m taking this shot standing next to Ryan. See the bus stop sign? No.
Your next task is to figure out where the bus is going. Buses here, like in Manhattan, have the first and last stops written on the front with various stops indicated in between. This one only has a couple of places written on it. Sometimes the entire windshield is covered with a list of places and these guys drive fast. Try reading a list of foreign names none of which sound familiar as they whiz by.
Then there are plenty of buses
with NOTHING on the front of them. Big empty windshield. Most of them have
at least the top banner, like on this bus: "Escazú San José"
which means it runs the Escazú San José route. At least that narrows it
down.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Here’s the basic "what you have to know" to get started riding the bus:
1. Forget bus maps. We have one. A recent one. If this map is correct, I will eat it. Not even close to correct. And impossible to read on top of that. Don’t waste your eyesight.
2. First thing: find out the name of your stop. Every stop has a name. So when any bus stops near your house, you ask the driver "Que es el nombre de esta lugar?" [K ace L GNOME-bray day AYE-stah loo-GAR?] I know my more learned friends will correct my terrible (but improving) Spanish, but this is what I meant to ask: "What is the name of this place?" The driver I asked understood me and replied, "Buena Vista." [BWAYNE-ah VEE-stah, good view.] Wow. For the first time in my life, I know where I am.
You must know the name of your stop because, unless you happen to be a named stop on the front of the bus, to get home you will have to ask every bus driver of every bus you see if they stop at your stop. You have to hail the bus because he won’t stop unless someone on the bus is getting off or someone at the stop indicates they want to get on this bus. On busy streets, I’ve had plenty pass me by before I figured that out, so hail away. Then you just run to the door of the bus and ask, "Buena vista?" Point vigorously if it makes you feel any better…
If they aren’t stopping at your stop and they figure out you stopped them just to get information, they are annoyed as hell. Hey, if I were in charge, I’d have an accurate bus map printed up and we could avoid the whole lost-gringos-annoying-bus-drivers in the first place.
Remember that ticos don’t like to say no. If you get a bus driver that doesn’t like to say no and you ask "Buena vista?" and they say yes… This happened to mom the first time she rode the bus. She said, "Buena vista?" The driver said yes. She got on. She ended up in Santa Ana at the end of the line. She refused to get off the bus. First, the driver was practically in tears. Then he started yelling at her in Spanish. She was responding in Spanglish which, for mom, is mostly Loud English. The driver finally had to get another driver on the bus and they pretty much dragged her off. She’s feisty for 77.
Am I painting a little picture here?
Fortunately, most bus drivers, tico or no, are too hardened by years of bus-driving to really care if you like them or not. They are more likely to not answer or answer rudely than to try to avoid saying no. You just want to maybe ask twice and look them in the eye, make sure you are getting on the right bus.
3. The trickiest thing for me is knowing where the places are that are listed on the front of the bus. This is harder than it sounds because these places are not usually towns but names of other stops. Like La Merced. Berbedero. Pista (which I finally figured out means the highway… but did it mean that bus takes you to the highway and drops you off? No. It means it goes to La Merced via the pista. I guess that’s good information…) Some buses just have a picture of a blue whale, which I happen to know means it’s headed to Hipermas.
I had absolutely no idea where those other places were. I’ve since figured out where La Merced is because that’s where my bus stops in downtown San José. Still have no idea where Berbedero is. Since these are usually the names of stops and not towns, they aren’t listed on maps. The only thing to do is to get on the bus and ride it. In fact, most of my friends here who know the bus system learned it by getting on the nearest bus and taking the tour.
4. Which is not always a circle. When the buses I’ve gotten on get to the end of the line, you have to get off and the bus drives away. You will sometimes catch the return bus where you got off, but not always. Not by a long shot. I hope you wrote down the name of your stop because you will need that now. Your return bus will leave from somewhere in the vicinity. I’d advise pinpointing this location before wandering off, so start asking: "Donde esta la parada del bus a Buena Vista?" [DOHN-day aye-STAH la pah-RAH-dah dale boos ah BWAYNE-ah VEE-stah, where is the stop for the bus to Buena Vista?]
Hopefully it will be within a one block radius, because ample warning about interpreting directions from ticos will take another 1,000 words at least. Here’s the short version: if it’s more than a block away, ask at least five people.
5. Most of the buses I’ve been on have these red buttons you push to indicate you want to get off. This one is nice and low. But most of them are very high and I’ve had to let Mo or Ryan to press it. That annoys the life out of me. In Costa Rica, I am regulation height… why do they put these buttons on the ceiling? Occasionally there is a rope to pull, but I almost never see that these days.
6. Have small change. If you have to change a bill, don’t expect the driver to be obliging for more than 1,000 colones. If he doesn’t have change, you don’t ride. If you have dollars, don’t even bother getting on the bus.
7. CRITICAL INFO: There are two metal/dark plexiglass floor-to-ceiling posts that you’ll walk between when going for your seat. You can see them just behind the driver in this terrible photo: metal sides facing me, the dark plexi-glass which is where the electronic sensors are facing each other.
Do not walk between these posts until you have paid and gotten your change. If you walk between them, then have to go back to the driver for change or whatever, you will have to pay again because you will have to walk back between those bars again to take a seat.
These bars are counters, counting the riders, keeping the bus driver honest. Bus drivers are VERY anxious about you walking between these bars and they will yell at you if you screw this up. It comes out of their pocket if the count is wrong. Just a heads up.
8. Bring a good book and a good city map. As you get to places, you can mark them on your map. Sometimes a neighborhood stop will be named on a map – that is always a victory somehow. Leave a whole day for the first time you ride any bus line. And keep in mind that this mini-adventure is practically free. It takes a whole lot of the anxiety out of it.
You guys have it easy. We have no bus map, useless or otherwise (we do have this bizarre booklet that lists the bus lines, and in order the streets that they take, but not indicating where they might stop, nor is the listing alongside a map, which is in a different part of the book and split up on 36 pages of little grids), we have to have change, in coins, no bills accepted and drivers will not give change. And wow, electronic sensors…? You got it made girl!
The larger and sooo much nicer buses are really great. Many leave out of the Coca Cola Station in downtown San Jose. These are huge Mercedes type buses with comfortable seats, very professional drivers. They ALWAYS leave on time to the minute, and are safe and clean.
You can find a very accurate schedule on line for all the routes days, weekends, holidays, or also a smaller list (but good) in the info book that the Tico Times putes out. Look under Getting Here and Around.
On the big buses and this took me a while to learn…there are smaller fees to shorter distances (makes sense) so say if you are going only half way to the end route, your price is usually less that half the fee. I was happily paying the 80 cents or whatever to get to Alajuela but now pay 30 cents to go where I really wanted to go. It pays to ask if you ride often.
Also dont be afraid if you dont speak spanish to use the bus system on the larger buses. As long as you are sure that the bus is going where you want to go, everyone keeps to themself on the bus, it is not awkward at all.
Another tip; merchandise and deliveries are sent around the country by bus. Its a very easy process. You can have your pool chemicals delivered by the best place in San Jose, a part you might need for you house or whatever. You just need to meet the bus and pick it up.
Remember its good manners here to thank your bus driver, he will most often reply in spanish “Thank you, for your good company”
Sally,
First off, if you find a CORRECT bus map you’d better laminate it, not eat it. Who knows when you might find another?
Re the signs in the front bus window you mentioned… La Merced, the stop you finally found in San José… It’s the name of the recently restored Church that sits on the east side of the diagonally adjacent park (Parque La Merced) form where that bus stops (unless they have changed everything around again). If you look north across Parque La Merced you will see the T.U.A.S.A. (red buses) terminal for Alajuela. (The other bus line to Alajuela, ‘Station Wagon’ has cream colored buses which stop along the south side of Parque La Merced.)
Also, if you see a sign ‘Directo’ in the window, it is an express bus that generally won’t stop to pick up fares after it leaves the terminal. The ‘directos’ are a little more expensive than the regular runs but often they are kept a bit cleaner inside.
The other window sign in that bus, El Bebedero, means the bus goes up to the top of the mountain above you. It’s a wonderful scenic trip, winding it’s way upward. El Bebedero means watering place, and it was/is a place for doing so with cattle and horses. There’s not much up there but a cute little blue church and some scattered houses but the ride is spectacular. The bus waits about five minutes at the end, then goes back down. Just tell the driver you want to ride back down with him but that you want to get out and stretch your legs. He’ll toot before he leaves so you can go back and get on the bus. Otherwise you will have to wait about an hour and 15 minutes for the next one.
About those electronic counters on the buses. You will notice some people, ladies with parcels and kids usually, may go to their seat first without paying. Then they go back to the front and reach thru the space between the plexiglass shield and the counter bar to pay. This is done quite a lot, I’ve noticed.
Lastly, tho people tend to keep to themselves, it wasn’t so long ago that when you rode the bus people would be talking to each other a lot. Maybe with the escalating crime problems in SJ people have become more reserved, but they will readily engage you in conversation if you speak first. They always like being helpful so you could ask a question like ‘where does this bus go after Buena Vista?’, and you will get both an explanation and some spanish practice.
Cheers!
Paul M.
==
To add to Paul’s comments about the SW (Station Wagon) line that runs between SJ and Alajuela, they no longer stop on the south side of La Merced park. Coming from Alajuela they stop 1 block north of La Merced. Every couple of years somebody in the government messes with this company’s bus stops in SJ, a vendetta? They used to have a covered terminal on Ave 2 1 block east of the Tuasa station, but they’ve been moved around sporadically for the last couple of years. Also Directo buses from Alajuela to SJ make their first stop at Hospital Mexico. On the way to Alajuela the first stop is by Denny’s. Some of the buses will have signs that say “parando” meaning that they’re not express buses, they stop (parar) all along the route. To add to Sara’s comments about not knowing where the stops are, depending on the line and the driver, anywhere can be a stop. You just flag the bus down. Sometimes they’ll point their finger in the direction they’re going meaning that you need to run after the bus to where it’s allowed to stop. Sometimes they’ll just pull over and pick you up.
LOL…I just learned something recently..and buses have been my mode of transpo for 1.5 years….there are yellow short lines, often faded, painted on the streets. these are bus stops!!!
who knew?
Happy New Year
If anyone reading this knows the URL for bus schedules that Cynthia mentioned I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated here, at least by me!
Though I’m spending a little time in Escazu while trying to figure out what part of Costa Rica I’d like to call “home” for the next little while I’m compelled to point out that the bus situation Sally describes can be far worse and more complicated outside the cities. Even some very popular routes, such as Quepos to Manuel Antonio, are quite different, with old, overcrowded buses (though no counting posts), no timbre to signal the driver of your desired stop and teensy-weensy seats originally occupied by the little bodies of grammar school children in another country, Many of these buses also lack apparently optional luxury items like windshield wipers and defoggers, so that the bus driver must simultaneously wipe the windshield with one hand (at least he can reach the inside while he’s driving!), while navigating the enormous potholes, the impatient drivers with no qualms about passing over double-yellow lines while ascending a curving mountain road. These heroes of the road (the bus drivers) also have to shift or try to restart their stalled buses while wiping and steering, as well as keeping aware of who wants to get on or off in any given location.
So far I’ve never seen a bus driver with more than two arms, though extra arms would surely come in handy for them.
Additionally, the buses can be hard to get on and off of for someone like me who has back problems, especially when one is carrying all one’s shopping and the bus is already overcrowded and has the seemingly obligatory guys who insist on standing in the aisle and stairs blocking everyone else’s entrance and exit.
And did I mention the tall people who take up at least two seats, as well as part of the aisle sometimes, simply because it’s the only way they can fit into the little spot meant for a kindergartener? Or the big-butted people who sit in the aisle seat but won’t let anyone else get in next to them? I suppose it’s because they don’t want anyone coming into contact with them while they ride, which is next to impossible for those of us who realize that one seat per person should be a common courtesy.
After relying on bus travel for 19 months in Costa Rica I’ve finally figured out the wisdom of getting on the bus (or buses) for an area and riding the whole route *before* choosing an area to live in.
On finding bus infor via the internet…just google it and take your pick. There are free guides and schedules, there are guides to purchase, public schedules, Monteverde offers a guide to around the country travel and times, there is one with all the phone numbers to stations around the country. Loads of into to pick from!
Thank you, Dan, for putting the proper perspective on our buses here! I am grateful.
Thank you, everyone, for your tips and experiences. It’s the only way to figure it out!!! I have the tico times book – I will look in there for the bus map, see if I can read it.
The boys just took one of those big mercedes buses to jacó: $3 each way, comfortable, prompt. Took a little longer than my grayline $20 trip but worth the savings.
Also you might see small arrows painted in the road to show where a bus stop is. They are pretty small but if you know what to look for it helps.
Another thing that is done here that I have never seen in another country is the road crews that paint a large heart with an angle hallow over it to show where someone has lost there life on the road. If you see a smaller heart that represents a child. It does make you think…
What is e-mail address of Tuasa bus? Am trying to find out name of stop nearest Hotel Aranjuez in San Jose. It is near Santa Teresita church. Hotel Aranjuez is on calle 19, between avenida 11 and 13 25 meters south of the church. Thanks.
Hi Harvey,
Don’t know the email address – maybe you can google that? See if they have a website? I wrote to Paul, a friend here, also a reader. He didn’t know the email address either, but had this to say about the location:
“Santa Teresita is on the east side of SJ near the old train depot for the long defunct ‘Jungle Train’ and the old Aduana building (which is being refurbished). The depot is just beyond (east of) Parque National and the National Library. The street T’s into the Aduana Building. At that point you turn left (N) for a block or so, then the church is on the back side of the block.
I’m not sure which way the traffic runs in front (W) of the Aduana Building but if it’s southbound, turn right then left at the street south of the Aduana Bldg., left again at the next corner and continue N looking for the church on your left.
So the TUASA terminal is about 11 blocks west and five blocks south from the church.”
Good luck, Harvey!
Hello, watch out for http://thebusschedule.com where you will find all bus, train and boat schedules of CR.