Routine Activity

The public transportation in Chile, both trains and buses, are fantastic. They are clean, efficient and super reliable. The metro has 5 lines throughout the city and the buses have numerous routes of their own but all of the bus and train lines are interconnected (even the fares – so if you are making a transfer within a certain amount of time --- 30 minutes I believe, it only charges you 1 fare). The system is called Transantiago and in order to participate, all you have to do is purchase a Bip! Card.

You can get these cards almost anywhere, most frequently at ticket booths in the metro stops or at convenience stores. It’s only a couple of dollars for the card itself and then you put money on it to “charge” it. You use this card anytime you use the bus or the metro. You aren’t able to use cash – they don’t have machines and bus drives won’t accept it. You HAVE to have this little card, and to take note of its declining value (it tells you your new balance every time you swipe it) to make sure you put more money on it when it gets too low.

Metro Map

            Kyle and I mastered the metro (and we’re getting better at the bus routes) during our first week here. We couldn’t believe how comfortable it was with so few people utilizing it. However, we got a rude awakening when summer vacation ended (summer vacation in Chile goes from January-February) and everyone came back to the city. Students, businessmen and even just regular people now FLOOD the metro every day. It will be so packed that your back is pressed up against someone behind you and another person in front of you is leaning against you and you think that there is no possible way anyone else could fit in – but then you stop at the next stop and 4 more people squeeze in.

            There are specific rush hour times, usually in the morning and then again around dinner, when both students and business people are leaving home and returning home. I have to take the metro about 30 min to school every day but luckily, I get on at one of the first stops of the line, when it still isn’t as crowded, so when I get on, I’m usually able to get a seat rather than be smushed and standing.

Tarifa Integrada = Integrated Fare

Riding the metro each and every day, I partially expected I’d start running into some of the same people. But with over 6 million people living in the city, I can absolutely say I have never seen the same face twice. It’s all similar types of people. As I said businessmen, women with their babies, other students, etc. but I swear I have never recognized a single face in the crowd.