DOES THE BUS STOP HERE? A Primer to Riding the Buses in Mexico...Dec 27 '02 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line Bus travel is one of the easiest ways to get around Mexico -- especially in the compact central region. Here's the straight skinny... I think every guide book to Mexico that I've ever read has recommended bus travel as the way to get around the country and truly experience it in all its natural beauty. Generally, that's a good recommendation. Bus travel in Mexico is very good with frequent service to anywhere from anywhere on well-maintained, clean, modern luxury coaches. Best of all, buses are cheap! Bus travel is quite different in Mexico than it is in the United States. It is more reliable, more comfortable, more punctual, and there are far more choices than most gringos have ever experienced. Here are a few things to know about getting around Mexico on buses... A Class Act... Buses vary in quality and it is almost always worth paying a little more money to travel on a better bus. Most Mexican long-haul buses are lumped into one of three categories: second-class, first-class, and deluxe. Second Class: Second class buses are the stereotypical Mexican bus, although it's far more common today to see late-model luxury coaches on the highways than it is the older second-class buses. Second class buses are sometimes cast-off old buses from the first-class lines, but more often, they look more like school buses, though very few are actually second-hand school buses, even though it's popular to see them that way. Few second-class buses have air conditioning and fewer have rest rooms on board. Second class buses are cheap, but they usually take back roads, stop everywhere, and are crowded and dirty. The only reason I see for most tourists to ever step foot on these buses is when it is the only alternative -- which is really only the case if you are going someplace far off the beaten track. In Carl Franz's classic travel guide, The Peoples Guide to Mexico, he states that you can get a bus anywhere in Mexico by just waving your hat. That's true, but it only holds with the second-class buses -- first-class and deluxe buses blow by the backpacker crowd at 95 kph, without so much as a wave of the hand to acknowledge their budget-living existence. First Class: Most buses today are very modern, luxurious buses and the typical bus a tourist would take is the first class bus, which is equivalent to the better private charter buses used in the U.S. These buses are late model coaches with plush seats, air conditioning, rest rooms, and usually TVs showing en route movies. Seats are always reserved and the buses don't stop to pick up passengers other than at scheduled station stops. First class buses travel on the best highways, including the toll roads. This is the best combination of comfort and value, and is the minimum I recommend for foreign tourists. Deluxe: You haven't experienced pampered travel until you've traveled on a Mexican luxury bus line! Several bus lines offer very luxurious coaches on popular inter-city routes. These buses seat as few as 20 passengers even though they are just as large as the first-class buses seating 40-50 passengers. The seats are often over-size with pull-down leg rests, stereo sound, two or more on-board rest rooms, and sometimes even complimentary drinks served by waiters. Like first class buses, luxury coaches do not pick up passengers other than at terminals. Different bus companies call their deluxe buses by different names, for example, Estrella Blanca calls their deluxe buses Ejecutivo, while Uno calls theirs Lujo and Estrella de Oro calls theirs Diamante -- they're all modern and comfortable, no matter what the marketing boys want to call it. Of course there are also local city buses, but these don't really fall into classes. They're usually most similar to second-class buses, but can sometimes be dinky little microbuses. They usually cost between 2 and 5 pesos to get just about anywhere within a town. But this review is mostly about using the buses to get around the country -- which means longer haul buses, so let's move on to how to buy tickets on the big buses... Buying Tickets Trust me on this: the easiest, most hassle-free way to buy tickets is to just show up at the bus station when you're ready to travel and buy a ticket on the first bus going where you want to go. I know, it makes a lot of people uneasy to not have every detail of their life planned in advance, but on most popular routes, there are lots of bus companies traveling the route and a bus is always leaving within a few minutes and almost always has seats available. The worst strategy I can imagine is trying to make reservations days or weeks in advance by trying to book through the internet or through any U.S.-based service. That, in my view, is a prescription for disaster. There are times when a reservation is a good idea, especially if you really must get somewhere on time and there aren't many buses traveling the route you need -- or maybe at peak holiday times. Holidays are notoriously busy periods, with lots of people travelling around Holy Week (easter) and Christmas. Even on holidays though, I've not had much trouble buying tickets only a few hours ahead of time, though I'm always willing to take late or very early buses. The best way to make a reservation is in person at the bus station. When you make a reservation, you reserve a particular seat on a specific bus. Once you have a ticket in hand, you need to make sure that you're on the platform at the right place at the right time because the tickets are not normally refundable and you may have to pay twice if you miss a bus -- which is one reason why I am very reluctant to make reservations ahead of time. Most major bus stations have several companies that run buses on the same routes. If you are traveling a busy route, you should have zero problems finding a bus that's leaving when you want to leave. If the first first-class company that you check with doesn't have a bus leaving within a reasonable time, go on to the next company -- chances are good that they'll run on a different schedule than the first company. Fares are generally inexpensive. My purely seat-of-the-pants algorithm for estimating the cost of a bus ticket is that it will be around $5 per hour of travel for up to 3 hours, then around $3 for each additional hour on the bus. So that gives me a fare of 50 pesos from Monterrey to Saltillo (I actually paid 48 pesos last time), 150 pesos from Monterrey to Reynosa (I actually paid 137 last time), and 300 pesos from Monterrey to Zacatecas (I actually paid 320). As you can see, the numbers generally get you in the right ballpark. These are all first-class fares, deluxe buses will run you about 40 percent higher. Stations Bigger cities usually have central bus terminals from which many bus companies operate. They are usually located downtown, but sometimes (like in Guadalajara), they're on the outskirts. Mexico City has four major bus stations, one on each side of the city, plus buses operate from numerous small private terminals and from a terminal inside Benito Juarez International Airport. In many cities, buses will load at the city's main terminal, and then stop again on the city outskirts at small company-run bus stations. Some remote areas are served by only a single first-class line and there may be only a small number of buses daily. In this case, you may need to take a bus to whatever big city you can easily reach, and from there, you'll find a bus onward to where you really want to go. Major bus stations are busy places. They have small shops and food vendors, ATMs, and other services. They usually operate 24 hours a day. The biggest stations, like Autobuses del Norte in Mexico City, can accommodate a hundred or more simultaneous bus arrivals or departures. In Monterrey, there are platforms for up to 60 buses at a time. At stations in border towns, there are usually customs officials examining baggage. Crossing the Border Once upon a time, buses couldn't travel in between Mexican and U.S. cities. Passengers traveling between the two countries had to switch buses in a border town, often taking a taxi from one side of the border to the other. Those days are long gone... Several companies operate buses that go directly between Mexican and U.S. destinations. There are dozens of these companies, and today it is possible to take a bus from Chicago all the way to Mexico City without ever having to change buses. Several companies operate daily routes from every major city in the southwest United States to every major city in northern Mexico. Naturally, the most popular destinations are Chihuahua and Monterrey, but from there, you can easily get anywhere else in Mexico. From many border states you can also find direct buses to San Luis Potosi, Tampico, Durango, and a host of other destinations. Of course you can still catch a bus at the border if you wish. If you do so, it is usually easier to catch your bus on the Mexican side of the border than on the U.S. side. If you really want to fly to the border and then catch a bus, in my opinion, the best destination is McAllen (MFE), then take the city bus for a buck (it stops in front of the mall, next to the For Eyes) across the bridge directly to the bus station in Reynosa. (It is often cheaper to fly into McAllen than to Laredo or El Paso. It can be cheap to fly into Harlingen via Southwest, but it's not convenient to the border). There is always some hassle factor in doing this, but it can save you bucks and/or time. By the way, Noreste operates routes into Mexico leaving from the new Greyhound station in McAllen, but I've avoided those buses because long haul buses sometimes take a long time to get through customs at the border. Bus Lines There are dozens of bus companies operating in Mexico. Some are very big, with hundreds of destinations in Mexico. Some cross the border into the U.S. Some operate only regional routes. I'll mention a few that I've had some experience with... Estrella Blanca is probably the biggest bus line in Mexico. They claim to serve 800 destinations and have more than 5,000 daily routes. Their Futura buses are very comfortable and some have bonus features like pull down leg rests. Their TuriStar Ejecutivo buses are among the top deluxe bus lines in the country and are worth paying a little more to ride. In the northern states, I like either Transportes del Norte or the various first-class lines run by Grupo Senda (like Noreste, Tamaulipas, and Sendor). I ride with Senda fairly often because they have good service between the border and Monterrey -- which is where I go more often than anywhere else in Mexico. Omnibus de Mexico has a very extensive route map and they seem strongest in Central Mexico. Their buses are also very clean and comfortable. In the Yucatan and most of southern Mexico, ADO seems to dominate the competitive landscape, though you see a lot of Riviera and Mayab buses running along the Quintana Roo coast. ADO seems to do better with the inland routes. As I mentioned, dozens of companies now run buses across the border into the U.S. Everyday I see dozens of these buses cruising by on their way not just to cities in border states, but to inland destinations like Chicago, Atlanta, and North Carolina. I've ridden the buses operated by El Expreso (which I didn't care for too much) and from Autobuses Americanos (which was nicer, but a bit more expensive). I think both Americanos and Amigos are actually part of Grupo Estrella Blanca -- but I'm not sure. A few other companies that I know run routes from Houston or San Antonio into Mexico include Autobuses Adame, El Conejo, Tornado. Fares from Houston to Monterrey (about 12 hours on the bus) run anywhere from about $30 to about $50, depending on the line and season. It's not always much more to continue on to San Luis or other more southern destinations. The best way to find about these companies is through spanish language newspapers (especially the free ones). A Few Helpful Phrases... Ticket agents in the bus station are unlikely to speak English. Here are a few basic phrases that should help you out: Cuanto cuesta un boleto a San Luis? (Kwon-toe kwesta oon bole-ate-toe ah San Loo-ees) How much does a ticket cost to San Luis? Cuando sale el proximo autobus a Zacatecas? (Kwon-doe sa-lee el proks-ee-moe ow-toe-boos ah Zock-a-teck-ess?) When does the next bus leave for Zacatecas? De cual sala? (Day kwal sah-la?) From what gate? Cual es mi asiento? (Kwal ess me ah-see-ehn-toe?) Which seat is mine? Tienes una sonrisa tan bonita. You have a beautiful smile. Tienes un novio? Do you have a boyfriend? Que lastima! What a shame! Vamonos! Well, I can't think of too much more to tell you about buses right now, other than to recommend them very, very highly for most shorter (less than 5 to 8 hour) trips. They're comfortable, and quite inexpensive. Until next time, see you on the road! Related Reviews: Plane, Trains, and Automobiles: The Compleat Guide to Getting Around in Mexico http://www.epinions.com/content_1070899332 Driving in Mexico http://www.epinions.com/content_2456920196  |
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