Bus System - Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

If you walk to the end of Avenida Juarez you come to Vicente Guerrero and will find a bustling bus stop from which you can catch a bus to almost any point in the city for 35 cents. Although I understand a visitor's reluctance to hop on a public bus in a foreign country, it must be said that it was not long before I was riding these old school buses with great enthusiasm my first year here. Considering the price versus $5 for a taxi ride it was irresistible not to at least try the bus system.

What a surprise. I discovered that the mass transportation geniuses in many of our larger cities could take lessons from the routing planners in Juarez, Mexico. The buses run up and down all of the major streets, so one can get around on them intuitively. Beginning about 7 a.m., they seem to come along the major streets every 5 minutes until about 9 p.m. No need to consult a schedule or rush to get to the bus stop to avoid having to wait 45 minutes or more for the next one.

Nor does it nearly always require a trip downtown or to a sub-station to get from point A to point B. You simply ride from point A to point B, or get off the bus at a major intersection and wait for the next one going the direction you want to go, and it's that simple. If you see a bus running east on Vicente Guerrero, for instance, it is likely to keep going east, not travel about in some curly cue fashion dreamed up at City Hall by people who drive their cars to work. Perhaps the routes make sense because the buses are all privately owned. Whatever the reason, the mass transit system in Juarez is safe, very inexpensive, and responsive to the needs of the public. Even most of the outlying colonias with dirt roads and no running water have bus service.

The buses are not air conditioned, but I found that to be a tiny inconvenience considering they actually took me where I needed to go about as quickly as I could have driven there...

Each one reflects the personality of the driver/owner. If the man likes religious symbols, the front of his bus will be decorated with them. If he likes cartoons, you might see cartoons of Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck. Many of the drivers also install sound systems on their buses and while away the long hours listening to music. Once again, if he likes cumbia or American hits from the 50s, then cumbia or American goldie-oldies it will be while you are on his bus. Some of the buses even have live entertainment in the form of usually a single singer with a guitar. Some of them are quite entertaining. Vendors get on and off at all the major stops to offer you cold water, ice cream, or even something to eat if you are hungry. It's definitely a cultural eye-opener to ride the bus and an experience I can highly recommend for purely practical reasons, after you have a good feel for the city.