Puerto Vallarta Buses

When I blogged about cabs in PV I said I would save buses for another blog. Buses are called camions and are very old, almost school bus style vehicles. In PV they were mostly blue and white but they have a program now to get them all painted green and white. We will see. The fare is 6.5 pesos or abut 50 cents. There are no transfers but buses will take you just about anywhere you want to go. You should get a small ticket stub when you pay. Upon occasion an official will get on the bus and collect them so hang on to it until you exit. The people on the bus are mostly locals. They have a habit of sitting on the aisle so if you want a seat you may have to climb over someone. No one moves in by the window. Don't ask me why. :)

The people are clean and you feel very safe unless you get a crazy driver. Unfortunately the system promotes this because there are way too many buses and the driver must get a bonus if he drives a full bus. They pass each other trying to be the first to a stop so they can get the most passengers! We have found it makes more sense to let the first bus pass by and wait a minute or two - sometimes it is even the next bus- and get on one where the driver does not speed to the stop. It is also likely to be less crowded. Many school children take the bus so you will see lots of kids in their school uniforms. And most locals go to and from work on the bus so around 9am and after 6pm the buses can be standing room only. There are specific stops (although not necessarily marked) and buses will not normally stop if you hail them from other locations. Some stops have a covered bench. For the others look to see a crowd standing on the sidewalk and you will know that is a bus stop. :) On the front window of every bus is a list of stops. Going out of the city you need to select a stop you know is beyond where you are going. Coming back in from the north and heading downtown you need to make sure the bus says Centro. Buses coming from the south shore only go as far as the Zona Romantica at which point you will need to get another bus and pay again to go north. We usually take the bus to Sam's Club or one of the nicer groceries like Soriana, Mega or WalMart to stock up and then take a taxi home. Probably 3 out of 4 times we are on the bus we will have entertainment. A local will get on with his guitar and sing a song then try and collect a few pesos from the passengers and get off. Sometimes they are so bad you want to pay him mid-song so he will leave. ;) This guy was pretty good though. Cute too. ;)

One sunday afternoon we were on our way for lunch and Mariachi with friends to a little suburb called Paso Ancho. The bus stopped and a man with a breathalyzer jumped on, tested our driver, gave a thumbs up and got off!! It happened so fast I couldn't get my camera out in time! We all gave the driver a round of applause. ;)

Besides the local buses you can also get a bus to Sayulita or Bucerias or other points north, or going south to El Tuito or the Botanical Gardens for about 25 pesos or roughly $2. These buses look about the same on the outside but have padded and, in some cases, reclining seats. The northbound buses leave from Walmart and the southbound from the corner of Aguacate and Lazaro Cardenas in Colonia Emiliano Zapata on the south side. You never know what you might see. This is a picture I took on the bus when we were going to the Botanical Gardens. An old man held him on his lap the entire way. The bus trips are part of the local color and I highly recommend you take a ride when in PV.