Transportation in La Paz...............

There is a wide range of transportation types in the city of La Paz. At first, it would be challenging for a new comer to quite grasp the differences among all of them. Most of the transportation (or mobility as it is called here – mobilidad-) is very affordable compared to other places. This is part of the reason there is a lot of diversity among the passengers; from the Executive who works in downtown and finds it more convenient to take a public transportation than taking his own car, to the street vendors carrying their merchandise with them on the Bus.

From the cheapest type, 1 Boliviano (15 cents CAD) for a bus fare, to a maximum of 50 to 60 Bolivianos (7.5-8 dollars CAD) to go to the airport, overall public transportation it is really accessible to everybody.

The Busses are pretty old style but nice looking; it makes you travel back in time. If you need to catch the bus, you only need to find out the avenue or street it passes through, as it is completely random the place it stops. Most of the time, there is no such a thing as a Stop Sign for the bus; then, you basically have to make stop signal anywhere the drive can see you, and get on the bus as fast as you can. (Sometimes the driver just slows down, and expects people to get on-off the bus).


In the same vein, there is no predetermined scheduled for the busses, sometimes you can see two busses passing at the same time, some others you have to wait a bit longer. The Bus here is not very convenient for moms or elder people, the steps to get in are very high, as well there is not Stop bottom or string to pull, you have to get closer to the door when it is time to get off, and constantly tell the driver aloud that you want to get off (as sometime he is distracted or just keeps going).


The good news, is that all public transportation usually comes very often people don´t need to worry if they missed the bus or Trufi, as most likely another one would come soon.



Another type of public transportation is called Minibuses. It is a small van that fits a maximum of 10-12 passengers. The distinctive part of the Minibuses is that beside the driver, there is another person announcing their route through the window. His-her job is basically open the front window, and with very loud voice inform everybody standing in street, the places where the Van is going next. I think that it should be a tough job to do that all day, especially in cases when the Van is full and that person should be half-sitting-half-standing for giving a seat to the new passenger.


Another type of transportation is called TRUFI (Fix Route Transportation; Transporte de Ruta Fija). These cars could be easily confused with Taxis; they are almost the same type; Japanese brands, on average 10 or more-year-old cars. Some of them have a sign at the top that says TRUFI; you just have to pay attention to the list of routes displayed on their windshield. There is a fix fee for taking a Trufi, it is 2 to 2.5 bolivianos per ride. Usually, these cars can comfortably fit a maximum of four people (beside the driver). One day, I took one Trufi, and it was full in my mind… I was sitting beside the driver, and then suddenly it stopped. The driver asked me to move a bit closer to him so another passenger could get in; it was my first experience with this situation. Fron now on, I know it is better to sit on the back; otherwise, you might get too tight with the driver and the neighbor passenger.

Up to recently, I found out that there are two types of Taxis: radio taxis and regular taxis. The radio taxis have a sign at the top with the name of the company and phone numbers. This type is the safest way of transportation, you can call a number, and they send somebody to pick you up. It might cost around 10-20 bolivianos the fare, depending on the route. The other type of taxis have no sign at the top of the car, only on their windshield. The driver might stop for another person in case they go to somewhere close to the destination of the first passenger.


There are very few Taxis or Trufis with seatbelts; I believe there is no fine for not using the seat belt, neither for the driver nor for the passengers.

At first I was taking Taxis most of the time, but at the end of the week I noticed that it is far cheaper and sometimes better to take other types of transportation. Besides, I was spending too much on my comfort and not immersing myself in the local life styles. It was a habit to have as reference the prices in Canada, so I was thinking it was cheap anyways to take taxis. By now, I have acclimatized myself to the local prices, and feel that I have to experience all kinds of normal Bolivian type of life, taking all the routes and types of transportation.










Ultimately, the distances around downtown and surrounding areas are not long; it is easier and sometimes faster to walk (in cases when a protest is happening). The only factor to consider is that La Paz, as a mountain city, has lot of up and down hills so it may get tough sometimes to walk around it (good exercise though). This might also be a good type of transportation, besides the exercise, I can get more familiar with the streets and neighbourhoods around the city....