How To Get Around in Bucaramanga

Introduction:

Bucaramanga, Colombia is known to have LOADS of traffic! Here, a traffic jam is called a trancón, and you can frequently hear taxi drivers calling out "Eyyy, trancón!" in frustration. Because of this, there is a thing called pico y placa. One day a week, and on certain Saturdays, you cannot drive your car. They determine this by the last number on your license plate. So if your license plate is COL - 3456, you cannot use your car on Fridays (6 denotes Friday). This cuts down on the number of cars on the road on any particular day. Because of this, bikes and buses are very common, especially motorcycles (called motos here).

How do people get around?:

A lot of people use the public bus system here called metrolinea. I use the metrolinea every day to get to my job. It costs 2,400 Colombian pesos for one ride (about 70 U.S. cents). You can go as far as you want for the same price. You swipe a card when you get on the bus and get off when you want! A lot of families have one car, and many people use bikes. Recently, they made a "bikeway" just for bikes to promote their use. People also carpool in taxis and with Uber. Motorcycles are very, very, very popular!

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