Part of the daily grind for residents, visitors will find the Buenos Aires subte provides fluorescent-hued flickerings of insight into the lives of porteños of all incomes.

In among tired workers, embracing couples and entire families on day trips, panhandlers make their pleas and vendors plug anything from chewing gum to mini-sewing machines and musicians belt out tunes of varying quality.

Buenos Aires was the 13^th city in the world to get a subway system and the oldest subway coaches in service worldwide still ran on the historic línea A until the city decided to replace them in early 2013 for safety reasons.

The network consists of six lines, líneas A – E and H and covers over 52.4km of the capital. Tourists will find the subte is relatively clean, goes to the majority of attractions and is faster and easier to navigate than the more complex bus system.

Subte Fares and Operating Hours

Unlike some other cities where fare is determined by distance, in Buenos Aires a single fare covers the whole subte network. Passengers can travel for two stops, change twice or ride to the end of the line — it’s still the same low price.

While still very affordable, the subte’s fare have been steadily increasing year after year to keep up with inflation. With the price rises, and the addition of bike lanes and a bike lending program, passenger numbers have dropped by an average of 200,000 per working day.

Waiting times for trains are generally between 3-6 minutes, though this depends on the line, time and day of the week. Television screens at the stations display train frequencies, as opposed to specific arrival times, along with news, short general interest programs and adverts. Wi-Fi is also available at most stations.

History and Controversy of the Buenos Aires Metro

Before the inauguration of the A line in 1913, the first subway line in South America, the capital’s transport network consisted of an intricate web of tramway and train lines, which congested its narrow streets.

The first proposals to build a subway system were submitted in 1886. After various plan rejections, delays and hiccups, the then-thriving Anglo-Argentine Tramways Company began the build in 1911.

The subway system has changed hands various times in accordance with the political whims of the government.

Two companies, Corporación de Transportes de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires and Administración General de Transportes de Buenos Aires were in charge of the subway and then liquidized, before the state-owned company Subterráneos de Buenos Aires took over in 1963.

Today, Subterráneos de Buenos Aires, or SBSAE, owns the stations, and through SBASE, the city government is in charge of the expansion of the network.

When the subte was privatized under President Carlos Menem’s rule in 1994, the company Metrovías S.A began to operate the system. In 1999 this contract was extended until 2017.

As of 2012, the national and city government have been wrangling over ownership of the subway system. No one wants the hemorrhaging network on their hands.

Per prior agreement, the city government took over the subte in 2012 and consequently increased the fares, before later trying to return it to the national government, who didn’t want it.

As the national and city government continue to squabble, citizens take the hit with a dearth of police officers in stations and frequent strikes by workers.

Connections and Expansion of the Network

As three out of six subway lines fan out from main square Plaza de Mayo and run parallel to each other, passengers often have to travel to the center to switch lines. Connections between the busiest lines B, C and D happen at the crowded downtown intersection below the Obelisk of stops Carlos Pelligrini, Diagonal Norte and 9 de Julio.

After a 60-year lull in construction, the modern H line was created in 2007 and is still being expanded. This line allows passengers to connect across the E, A and B lines without first traveling to the city center. An SBASE representative describes the H as being “fundamental to improving the operation of the whole system” and this explains why the H was constructed, before the F and G lines, which were planned at the same time. When finished, línea H will connect with the D line, and join main tourist destination Plaza Francia, home to Recoleta cemetery, to the rest of the city.

There are also plans to extend the A, B and E lines and build new lines F, G, which will run between 56 new stations. The extensions will add 39.3km to the network and subte riders are expected to increase by the thousands once they are completed. — Rosie Hilder

→ How to Take the Buenos Aires Subte

Metrovías
Subte Fare — AR$

Operating Hours:
Mon-Sat: 5 a.m.—11 p.m.
Sundays: 8 a.m. —10 p.m.

At first figuring out Buenos Aires’ complex bus system can seem like a harrowing task. There are 110 bus lines; each with their own complicated routes crisscrossing the city. Get your hands on a Guía T, a guide to the bus system that can be bought in a handy portable version at any newsstand for cheap and you will begin to decode the matrix that is the Buenos Aires’ bus system.

The Guía T is a low profile, local’s way to figure out how to get around the city and is also abundantly useful to pedestrians.

There are three sections in the Guía T. In the front of the book, there is an alphabetical index of all the streets in Buenos Aires subdivided with various address ranges, each pointing you to a page with the appropriate map. The body of the Guía T is made up of tiny maps of the entire city with a list of the corresponding buses on the opposite page. In the back of the book are all the various buses listed in numerical order with the details of their routes and pictures of the buses to demonstrate the color scheme of each line.

How to Use the Guía T

1. Look up your address

Just look up the address you are traveling from in the front of the book, the index gives a page number and co-ordinates, such as 16-A4, page 16, quadrant A4. On that page you will recognize a map of your location divided into a grid. On the left hand page is a corresponding grid with a list of buses that pass by that location.

2. Look up your destination
Secondly, look up the destination you are trying to reach as you did in step one. Flip back and forth between the two pages to compare the bus lines listed in the grids for the two locations. If you are not traveling too far, there will almost always be a bus that goes by each location. If not, look at the surrounding quadrants to see if there is a corresponding bus.

There is no transfer system between the different bus lines, so you may have to walk a few blocks. On the rare occasion that you need two buses, you will have to pay twice but since taking two buses is rather impractical, consider taking some other form of transportation such as the subway, taxi or a bus and brisk walk combo.

3. Map your route

Once you figure out the bus you need, look up that bus line listed in numerical order in the back of the book to see what streets it travels on – since many streets are one way, the buses often travel on slightly different routes on the going and return trips.

You will see both the ‘ida’ and ‘vuleta’ (going and return) listed street by street, as well as a little picture that shows the color and design of the bus. There are no times listed for the buses –they come when they come but because of the high volume, most buses come by at least every 15 minutes during the day.

Figure out which intersection you will be getting off at – you will need to tell the driver anyway to pay your fare. Check this post for more instructions on taking a bus in Buenos Aires.

Websites and Telephone Info

In addition to using the Guía T, you can also use Spanish language websites such as Como Viajo to figure out the bus system. On the left hand side of the website, simply put in the starting and ending destinations press enter and the site will tell you which bus lines to take and an approximate journey time.

Los Colectivos is a website that gives the phone numbers for the various lines and lists the frequency of the buses in minutes, useful information that the Guia T doesn’t provide. X Colectivo is another website that is a bit hard to navigate but it also has the major bus lines listed as well as lists of buses that pass by important sites.

Additionally those who understand a bit of Spanish can call 131 toll free for bus information. The line is often busy, but if you have a telephone it’s worth a shot.

For information on how to take a bus in Buenos Aires once you’ve figured out your route, check out our guide for How To Take a Bus in Buenos Aires.