BA transport, traffic and economics

Our block 

Hola,

Buenos Aires has this strange ability to reveal something new every time you walk down the same street. The city is laid out as a connected grid system made up of generally one way streets. Each block is around 100m by 100m. Everyday for the last 2 weeks we have been walking around our block going in different directions and often to the bus stop on Las Heras. As we walk along Junin, Uriburi or Las Heras, we always spot something new, whether it be some funny looking rubber Mate cups or a new fresh vegetable store and butcher. This is partly because if a store is closed, which they are at odd times, you walk straight past without even noticing it because the roller shutters are down. This way makes it very easy to really value the neighbourhood. It does not feel like we need to head to a completely new location in order to find something new and interesting.

There are ground floor shops, cafes and restaurants on all streets and the building usually extend 5 - 16 stories up with apartments, so its very dense. This is amazing because all residential, commercial and retail land uses are very well mixed which creates very vibrant and active streets for most of the day and night, which makes it feel very safe. 

The architecture is phenomenal, huge grand doorways everywhere and plenty of well designed facades, churches and university faculties. As you head further out towards Palermo there are areas where the density drops a little, but still maintained great diversity in land uses.

The faculty of Engineering just around the corner from our apartment. This is the only Gothic style building in Buenos Aires that wasn't originally designed to have any religious affiliation. I find it very ironic that the engineering building looks like this while the faculty of architecture & design just a large rectangular building.

Unfortunately, you can tell this country has suffered some economic hardship over the past decade. Some of the beautiful buildings appear abandoned, ill maintained or are becoming filthy. The once beautiful pavements are sometimes piled with rubble and rubbish and mostly have holes all over the place where the pavement has broken up under heavy foot traffic and hasn't been repaired yet.

The bus patronage must be very high, there are buses everywhere and they are usually pretty full. They run 24/7 365 days of the year and are not usually more than 10 minutes away, although they tend to arrive in bunches. There is not always a sign to indicate where the stops are along a street, you just have to find it on a tiny sign or remember where it is, the signs vary from about a 4 x 4 inch metal plaque to an piece of cardboard with a number spray painted onto it, as picture below.

This is a bus stop, we would have gone straight past if this lady wasn't there in the typical Argentine 'I'm first in line for the bus' pose.

There are no announcements or signs to let you know when to get off, you just have to know where you are. The line culture is extremely well organised and polite, people do not cut the line ever. Very different at home where a crowd forms around the bus doors and its first in best dressed.

All the buses are competing for fares so they are fast and efficient and the routes are based on demand/supply, so seem to be relatively well placed and have been around forever, so higher intensity development seems to have occurred along the bus lines. However, I imagine that looking at a complete network map, which doesn't exist, would probably appear to be an incoherent web of lines in every direction, or a bowl of spaghetti.

The subway is pretty is interesting, they are currently using old second hand Japanese trains. We hear the subway gets really busy, especially between 5 and 7pm, although it was quite busy even at midday on Friday when we took it. The subway is renowned for organised pickpockets that team up and pretend to vomit on you or clean mustard off your jacket while they rob you.

Overall, the system is quite effective once somebody who speaks English (thanks Jonathan!) explains how it works, but without a good explanation you would be pretty lost, especially when it comes to knowing when to alight.

Inflation here is running wild, a trolley of shopping since 2005 has gone up from around ar$150 to ar$700+ which puts a lot of pressure on residents as wages haven't quite increased to match. The government is artificially holding the value of the Peso at around 5 pesos per US dollar whilst a black market rate created by high demand for US dollars runs at around 8 pesos per US dollar. We have even managed to exchange US dollars for up to a rate of 10 pesos per dollar! 


It is definitely a very unique place, most people are very friendly, but then again sometimes people are clearly looking to take advantage of us as vulnerable tourists. Our Spanish is slowly improving and communicating is becoming easier every day.

O

The Recoleta Cemetery

The Beautiful Japanese Gardens

El Gato!