One my concentration areas in the urban planning school at the University of Michigan will be in public transportation. I´m not quite sure why I find this subject so interesting. Is it the little kid in me still fascinatied by these neato busses and trains? Is it my compulsion with doing things efficiently, carrying the maximum amount of people across town in the least amount of time for the lowest price? Whatever it is, I can see it clearly reflected in my recent obsession with the Guia T. The Guia T is a guide to the over 300 busses that crisscross the metropolis of Buenos Aires. It comes in a pocket form (what I have) and a larger full size guide. It consists of a grid map that devides the city into tiny sectors. In these sectors there is a list of all the different numbered busses that pass through that quadrant. You look up the place you want to go, find the busses that pass through there, then cross reference that with the quadrant where you are starting. The trick is to find the same number for your starting box and your destination box. If you find that magic number, you have found the bus that will take you pretty close to your desired destination for usually about 30 cents.
They also provide illustrations of each numbered bus, so you can try to learn what color trim that 151 or 37 bus has. I find myself treating the Guia T like a game, picking a destination on the opposite side of the city and tracking down which bus can get me there most efficiently. Énough of my geekiness for now!
1 comment:
I don't know if you've looked at Paris' bus system, but the night buses are particularly interesting, as they recently completely redid the routing system. Previously it had been in a radiating spoke system, but that didn't work, so now they're trying a central wheel with spokes system. It's interesting to watch them try to make the system efficient.
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