A question of transport.

A foreigners guide to navigating through the Porto Alegre gridlock.

I have a fear of flying, so much so, that every time I board a pressurized cabin, I have to tranquilize myself with the hard stuff. No other mode of transport has ever really had the same effect on me - until now.

And after yesterday's near death experience with a truck, which accelerated while I tried to cross a road, the second incident of its kind this week, I wondered: Is being a pedestrian in Porto Alegre any safer than, say, being a motorcyclist in South East Asia?

Upon moving to Brazil, a languagebarrier was something to expect, but the vast cultural differences were something I was not prepared for. I have had to rewrite the rules of almost everything I know, but crossing the road was something I hadn’t considered, until now.

Pretty quickly, I realized that the traffic here has a different set of rules. Cars in general rule the streets, pedestrians are a nuisance. Avoid motorbikes like rats. Never expect drivers to indicate. As for red lights, footpaths and pedestrian crossings, they’re just for aesthetics.

So the question is, how does one get around in Porto Alegre? Cars perhaps? Only if you are rich, very tolerant of road rage, and happy to be carjacked. Cycling maybe? With a distinct lack of cycle lanes, extremely hot weather and, cyclists being sworn enemies of drivers, cycling is for the very courageous at this moment in time.

As options were thin on the ground, I decided to give public transport a go. Admittedly, I hail from a city where the public transport has a lot of room for improvement, but Gaucho public transport is a world away from what I’m used to.

For starters, the only real extensive mode of transport in the city is buses. There are bus stops, but timetables or an indication of which buses actually stop at a particular pointdoesn’t exist. POA buses are a bit like the end of rainbows. I know they go somewhere, but the exact location remains an enigma.

Bus stop in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil

Brazilians do love their stamps, documents and pieces of paper, so if you want to obtain a bus pass its not a simple as buying it in a shop. It’s communist style bureaucracy on Speed. Give yourself a good month, plan for a number of ‘certified’ documents. Then go to one place to apply for the pass, pay for the fares in a specific bank, and then get the fare credit added to your pass in another place. Easy.

So, If you’re unwilling to bus it -standing in 35 degrees; squeezed up against a stranger, have the cash and nerves to drive, or pay gringo taxi fairs, what’s the best option to get from A to B? Possibly cycling, if there were sufficient cycle lanes. As for me, I will remain a pedestrian warrior for now, fighting for my share of city space. Perhaps in decades to come this will change, and Brazil will up its game.

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Porto Alegre's Airport + tips

Salgado Filho International Airport

(29:59:39S, 51:10:17W, Elev 11 Ft)

International Civil Aviation Organization - ICAO: SBPA

International Air Transport Association - IATA: POA

Porto Alegre (Brazil) has a perfectly modern airport that attends national and international flights. Compared to major European airports, it is, of course, small, but just as well planned and just as beautiful. Unlike the European airports I know, it has a cinema, where you can watch a movie for a very good price, if your flight is delayed.

The Salgado Filho International Airport has a site in English and in Portuguese that you can find here, thus I am not going to repeat all the ways you can get to the city or what kind of services are available in the airport – I thought it would be much more fun to give some insight information for those of you traveling on budget!

Useful information for backpackers 

Porto Alegre is a relatively small and safe city (I can’t believe I am saying this, considering I grew up in a city of 15 thousand people in the safest country in the world), compared to many places in Latin America. Thus, the last thing you need to do is worry about being kidnapped or worse.

To get to the city, take the bus T5 (the airport site doesn’t mention that line for some reason, but it goes from right in front of the airport arrivals exit). The ticket currently costs 2,85 BRL (about 1,40 USD our 1,15 EUR), kind of pricy for Latin America (or even Europe), but a reasonable price in Brazil. The bus will not take you to the center, unfortunately, but quite near. Check the route here.

Another option is to take the train (or call it metro, it’s the same thing here in Porto Alegre). It costs about the same and will take you to the bus station or to the center of the city (Mercado Público).

About the taxi – if you take the taxi to the center, it should cost you (at the moment, July 2012) around 25 BRL. With bad traffic conditions, perhaps 30… If they ask more than that, look at them with angry eyes and say “gurí, que sacanagem!” (it’s something like “you’re trying to fool me!” but in a funny and Brazilian way). The airport taxis and the regular taxis all supposedly have the same rate, and you can find one anywhere in the city at any time. Don’t worry, it’s ok to take one on the street. I do this all the time, at any hour.

In Brazil it is not common to sleep at the airport, or bus station, or in the metro (Trensurb Company), or in the park, like backpackers might do in Europe. Here, this is considered a behavior of the homeless (and for the locals here there is no other reason for why anyone would want to camp out in such a place), and is forbidden in middle and high class places, such as the airport. In other places, it is simply dangerous.

Reference: Procempa Map

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You can't get there from here

My Argentinian co-blogger recently wrote about the transportation system in Porto Alegre. It's interesting that he made comparisons to Buenos Aires; I was there in March, and I felt like I knew my way around that beautiful city better after three days than I did in POA after three months!!

The dearth of useful information available here to the visitor—and resident—baffles me. There are few maps in circulation, and the layout of the city and its bairros seems to have no coherent pattern.

Worse still is the incomprehensible maze of public buses and the complete lack of travel guidance. It's like some sort of secret society, where you have to crack the code to enter. I am always asking 'How am I supposed to know WHICH bus to take to a particular destination?'

The answer is invariably the same. 'You just know.'

But there are no notices at the bus stops. There are no timetables, no destination charts. There is no bus map that makes any sense. The official eptc website is a myriad of confusion. Only if you know the exact bus number you want to look up can you find its route and schedule. And because there are four bus companies that don't seem to have any connection with one another, it's even harder to map out a course.

You can't just walk to the closest bus stop and see where you can go. You could flag down each bus and ask the driver, but what if you don't speak Portuguese? What if the very bus you need is just around the corner and no one tells you? What if you're the sort of person who wants to plan the easiest route ahead of time?

So how is a tourist supposed to navigate the city using public transport?? Many world cities have readily-available and easy-to-understand walking and transportation maps. Many public bus and train systems offer comprehensive guides in print or online, and most stops have detailed route information, including, in some cases, the arrival times of the next one approaching.

And why only a single-journey fare? Why is there no discounted weekly or daily pass, and why must one pay for EACH trip if a change of buses is needed?

Having said all this, once you figure out which bus you need, and where the stop is, and how to negotiate the turnstile and pay the fare, the bus ride itself it quite comfortable and efficient. I'm a huge fan of public transport, and I would like to use it as often as I can. But I think POA has some work to do to get ready for the influx of tourists in 2014.

links: PoaTransporte   eptc

phone: 118 for route information (Portuguese only)

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