Wednesday 18 April 2007
This is the Guia T, both my bane and my savior as an English teacher in Buenos Aires. It is a small book with a different section of the city map of each page, which serves as the bus, train, and subway guide. So, I use it very frequently when trying to figure out how to get from one class to another on the other side of the city in an hour. The problem is, it is not very well organized, and extremely hard to use.
This is, basically, how to look up a bus. Let's say you want to go from A to B.
1. So, find the page with the map containing A. Look at the page opposite, which tells you which buses stop somewhere in the grid square where you are. Keep your finger in this page.
2. Then find the page with the map containing B. Now, look on the opposite page to find out which buses serve this grid square. Keep your finger here, too.
3. Flip back and forth between the two to see if there are any buses going from one square to the other. Or, any of the squares in the general vicinity, because most likely you'll have to walk a bit.
4. So, you find the bus number that might work. Now, find the bus route in the back, which is just a list of streets. Keep your finger here.
5. Now, you have to flip between the three pages to try and figure out where the bus actually goes, and which streets somewhere in the two grid squares it actually goes down, and whether or not it is going in the right direction. (All streets are one-way, so bus routes do not run both ways, they only run one way. The return is going to be a completely different route. And you cannot just ride it all the way around, at some point all buses "park," and you have to get off.)
6. So, now you know what street you have to pick it up on. Walk down the street hoping to find the bus stop, which will be marked with a small sticker on a bus stop, light post, or any other vertical metal surface on the side of the road.
7. Now, you can flag down the bus, get on, pay (with coins only, so you'd better have change!), and keep the Guia T open in your lap as you watch for the right place to get off!
2. Then find the page with the map containing B. Now, look on the opposite page to find out which buses serve this grid square. Keep your finger here, too.
3. Flip back and forth between the two to see if there are any buses going from one square to the other. Or, any of the squares in the general vicinity, because most likely you'll have to walk a bit.
4. So, you find the bus number that might work. Now, find the bus route in the back, which is just a list of streets. Keep your finger here.
5. Now, you have to flip between the three pages to try and figure out where the bus actually goes, and which streets somewhere in the two grid squares it actually goes down, and whether or not it is going in the right direction. (All streets are one-way, so bus routes do not run both ways, they only run one way. The return is going to be a completely different route. And you cannot just ride it all the way around, at some point all buses "park," and you have to get off.)
6. So, now you know what street you have to pick it up on. Walk down the street hoping to find the bus stop, which will be marked with a small sticker on a bus stop, light post, or any other vertical metal surface on the side of the road.
7. Now, you can flag down the bus, get on, pay (with coins only, so you'd better have change!), and keep the Guia T open in your lap as you watch for the right place to get off!
So, as you can see, this is a rather complicated process. Ryan was having a hard time of it that day.
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