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There was a reference to transportation in another thread but I thought it deserved its own thread. My understanding is that there is mass transit available in the San Juan area but hardly anyone uses it. Is that true? If so, why don't people use it?
Short answer, because it's hardly mass transit and because it sucks.
Now let me qualify that answer. Basically the latest craze as of 5 year ago was to implement light rail. Problem is that the destinations and route structure created a lot of "terminals to nowhere", where basically professional people had no way of getting to-from work. The locations are suburban-to-suburban. Furthermore, no destinations to Old San Juan (touristic area) and no destination to the airport. Now how retarded is that!
Furthermore, the bus system in PR is beyond unreliable. Puerto Ricans are very American in that regard (the irony, huh boricuas?), they love and rely on a car lifestyle. I remember my father having to take the bus one summer day to work because one car was down and my mother needed his to get to work. He was still 2 hours late to work and when he got to work he had to change because he looked like he had ran a 20K in his business suit. The buses are ghetto, the schedules a mere wishful thought, and the distances required to walk in 80%+ humidity an impractical choice for the majority of the ridership who opts for cars (i.e. everybody who can afford a beater and above). There's your answer in a nutshell.
Build destinations of practical consequence, like hospital centers, airport, tourism and work destinations within walking distance, and police it so that ghetto #ss people don't drive away the median ridership you need to make it economically feasible, and you might see it become a reality. Otherwise it's just another "Puente Teodoro Moscoso", a nice thought yet an abysmal economic failure.
Is there any regular bus service from Ponce to the airport in San Juan? Even if the government won't provide decent bus service I am surprised that there is not a private enterprise to do so. People here seem to be quite ingenious about creating jobs for themselves. I see a lot of private bus service at the schools. It seems like someone would be able to make money offering such a service if it had a regular route/schedule and cost less than the $57 dollar one way ticket to fly to San Juan from Ponce. Has this been tried and failed due to the car loving culture?
Is there any regular bus service from Ponce to the airport in San Juan? Even if the government won't provide decent bus service I am surprised that there is not a private enterprise to do so. People here seem to be quite ingenious about creating jobs for themselves. I see a lot of private bus service at the schools. It seems like someone would be able to make money offering such a service if it had a regular route/schedule and cost less than the $57 dollar one way ticket to fly to San Juan from Ponce. Has this been tried and failed due to the car loving culture?
I would have thought an intercity bus from SJ airport to, say, the square in ponce would work.
Quote:
Rail transit in Puerto Rico is currently limited to Phase I of Tren Urbano. This is a 17.2 kilometers heavy rail line, which connects the urban center of Bayamón to the Santurce neighborhood of San Juan. There are 16 stations along the line, linking important activity centers, such as the RÃo Piedras Medical Center, the University of Puerto Rico, and the San Juan Financial District (Golden Mile). Ridership in Tren Urbano is approximately 32,000 daily weekday passengers. This figure increased to an average of 36,500 daily weekday passengers during 2008, due mainly to the provision by ATI of free transportation between some Tren Urbano stations and some of the Metropolitan Area's main shopping malls during Christmas season, and also due to rising oil prices.
Rail options will be expanded in the near future with the construction of a new transit line to Caguas. Rail service between the Cupey Station of Tren Urbano and the urban area of Caguas will be provided by a light rail line, construction of which is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2008, and which will have an estimated cost of $450 million. This transit line is expected to start operations in the first quarter of 2010, and initial estimated ridership is 10,000 passengers per day.
The rail line to Carolina, which was envisioned as Phase II of Tren Urbano, was originally envisioned as a heavy rail extension from the current Tren Urbano station in RÃo Piedras to the Roberto Clemente Walker Stadium. Nevertheless, the proposed line has been changed to a bus rapid transit (BRT) line, which will run between from the Cupey Tren Urbano station to the Roberto Clemente Walker stadium. This system, which consists of buses that run on their own right-of-way, may be upgraded to light rail in the future. It will be known as the Red Line.
Another proposed rail link is known as the "train of the north", and will provide rail service between Bayamón and Hatillo. This route is currently under study.
There are also several proposals for intraurban rail transit under development. One of them is the Carolina light-rail system, or tranvÃa (tram), which will connect the main activity centers of Carolina and serve as a feeder for the Red Line. Another is the Santurce-Old San Juan light rail line, which will be a tram line from the Sagrado Corazón station of Tren Urbano to Old San Juan. This line is currently in preliminary planning.
BusinessRegisterPR.com - Puerto Rico Industrial and Commercial Directory (http://www.businessregisterpr.com/search?transportation=true - broken link)
I'd think that santurce old san juan would be at the top of the list. if there's any area that's extremely hard to access y car, it's old san juan and to some extent, santurce. it's disappointing they are looking light rail but as long as it's dedicated ROW I guess that's fine. Ideally, you'd end up with a one seat ride for the airport through santurce to old san juan...and perhaps in the other direction from the airport, carolina...with an interchange with the original tren urbano. Or, more cheaply, just extending tren urbano to old san juan. one line does not a network effect make .
Short answer, because it's hardly mass transit and because it sucks.
Now let me qualify that answer. Basically the latest craze as of 5 year ago was to implement light rail. Problem is that the destinations and route structure created a lot of "terminals to nowhere", where basically professional people had no way of getting to-from work. The locations are suburban-to-suburban. Furthermore, no destinations to Old San Juan (touristic area) and no destination to the airport. Now how retarded is that!
Furthermore, the bus system in PR is beyond unreliable. Puerto Ricans are very American in that regard (the irony, huh boricuas?), they love and rely on a car lifestyle. I remember my father having to take the bus one summer day to work because one car was down and my mother needed his to get to work. He was still 2 hours late to work and when he got to work he had to change because he looked like he had ran a 20K in his business suit. The buses are ghetto, the schedules a mere wishful thought, and the distances required to walk in 80%+ humidity an impractical choice for the majority of the ridership who opts for cars (i.e. everybody who can afford a beater and above). There's your answer in a nutshell.
Build destinations of practical consequence, like hospital centers, airport, tourism and work destinations within walking distance, and police it so that ghetto #ss people don't drive away the median ridership you need to make it economically feasible, and you might see it become a reality. Otherwise it's just another "Puente Teodoro Moscoso", a nice thought yet an abysmal economic failure.
man you are on the money with that one.. . i just spent the last couple months living in Levittown. my job was in Santurce and i had no car, so i had to use the buses. stuff was the worst!!! it was like there was no set schedule at all.. so i always had to wait for a long time. by the time id get to work, my whole shirt would be soaked in sweat. the only good thing from the bus system is the metro bus. i never had to wait too long for it
The main problem with mass transit in PR is the urban sprawl. If you look at the cities with the best transit systems, they are compact cities with high density, like NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, etc... In that regard, you'll see plenty of buses regularly in the dense areas of San Juan, like Santurce, Hato Rey, Condado, and Old San Juan. On areas where there is a lot of sprawl, like Guaynabo, Bayamón, Carolina, and RÃo Piedras, you'll probably need to walk 1/2 hour just to get to the bus stop and then wait for the bus. So it's not really practical, which causes low ridership and subsequent service cuts. When I was in HS, I used to ride the 31 bus to La Cumbre in RÃo Piedras and many times I was the only passenger on the bus. I lived in Orlando, FL, another city with a lot of sprawl, and the bus system there sucked also. One thing that the bus authority in PR should do is print schedules for their runs. That way, even if the bus only runs once an hour, you'll know exactly at what time it comes and won't have to wait too long.
If you're going from Ponce to the airport, there's the "carro público" which is like a van that will take you (and a lot of other people) from the terminal in Ponce to RÃo Piedras. They are regulated by the Public Service Commission, but are not very comfortable and usually don't have AC. The fare used to be $8, but I'm not sure how much it is today. In RÃo Piedras you have 'carros públicos', regular buses, and taxis, so it shouldn't be hard to find a way to the airport.
I found some info. From RÃo Piedras, you can take the 'Tren Urbano' rail to the Piñero station and transfer to the B-40 bus that'll take you to the airport. The fare is $1.50 for the train and 75¢ for the bus, although you might be able to get a free transfer. Interestingly, the B-40 bus used to run from the RÃo Piedras terminal.
Do you know where the terminal is in Ponce and where I can get a schedule? Also, is it true that it doesn't leave until it is full so that it may leave right away or may leave an hour or more later depending on how long that takes?
Originally Posted by http://wikitravel.org/en/Ponce
By público
Ponce has a large público terminal at the intersection of Calle Union and Calle Vives, a few blocks north of Plaza las Delicias. Públicos to San Juan (1-2 hrs, $15) depart from gate 5A, mostly early in the morning. Call Chóferes Unidos de Ponce at 787-764-0540 to make a reservation; they can also pick you up for a small extra fee.
Also, is it true that it doesn't leave until it is full so that it may leave right away or may leave an hour or more later depending on how long that takes?
That is my understanding, although when I was riding them, they usually filled up within 20 minutes.
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. i just spent the last couple months living in Levittown. my job was in Santurce and i had no car, so i had to use the buses. stuff was the worst!!! it was like there was no set schedule at all.. so i always had to wait for a long time. by the time id get to work, my whole shirt would be soaked in sweat. the only good thing from the bus system is the metro bus. i never had to wait too long for it
