- The best is the Metro, honestly, because it has many lines connecting buses, the integrated
system, and the cable car.
-If you want to visit Medellin and you don’t have a high Budget, the best option is Metro,
it has 3 Cable Car lines that takes you up to Santo Domingo.
-Are four already.
- ¿already four?
-Sure, because Picacho line it’s already open.
- ¡Oh, well!
Yeah!
It has 4.
Then you have the one of Santo Domingo and if you want to go up to Santa Helena you can
go in that line, then, you can sabe a lot of time.
Also, you have the one of San Javier, I don’t know how it’s that one because I’ve never
been in the Graffiti tour, I guess that it takes you up… no?
-No, that one leaves you in San Javier and from there you must walk, I mean, you take
the bus to a point and from there you must walk.
-¡Alright!
So, Metro has all the cable cars system and even if you don’t want to leave in a specific
point at least you Will have a view from the upper part of the city.
-And we have the tram too that is part of the Metro so you can pay it with the same
card that you pay for the Metro.
The tam also takes you to Buenos Aires to the very upper part and as the Cable car,
there’s no need to leave it, you can make a round trip, back and forth.
-There are multiple bus lines all over the city, it’s not like if you don’t have
money enough for a taxi you can’t get anywhere because there are a lot of buses and they
can take you it’s just that it can take more time than usual because the traffic jam,
there are a lor of vehicles in Medellin a lot of motorcycles too.
Even the fast ways are not so fast nowadays.
-They are no longer fast, I mean, in Medellin the traffic jam is the whole day and that’s
not a secret for anyone.
There’s a lot of traffic in Medellín so you must circulate with no rush.
At night around 21:00 the traffic decreases you can notice that you can ride 60 kmph with
no risk to crash.
But the best is the Metro, it has multiple integrated bus lines, the cable car, and the
tram, ah, and the Metro Plus that also takes you through the whole city on its own lane,
so if you decide ride through the city in Metro Plus you will succeed because the lane
will be clean and it’s very odd when you find traffic jam in the Metro Plus
As for the buses, you can also find them with multiple destinations, but you must be aware
of the route, search in Google Maps indications about where you can take the bus or about
the bus stop.
In El Poblado mostly are already established the bus stops, which route works better depending
on the destination and its frequency.
As in the Metro, they have in the screens of the stations the information about the
time of the next ride, that helps a lot.
As for the private transportation is the one you get through applications and stretching
out the hand to a taxi, they also have apps.
-The foreigner that wants to get a taxi can download Cabify, Uber or inDriver
-But for example, Coopebombas is a Taxi company from here and has its app and there are more,
and the already mentioned: inDriver and Uber and if you want to take a motorbike ride you
can use Picap if you like to feel the adrenaline to ride an unknown’s motorbike.
The transportation in Medellin city is very cozy, because constantly you will find cheaper
ways to move towards any point of the city.
As in the city as in the towns you can find vehicles or buses where you can travel comfy.
It is true that sometimes cities face overpopulation but either way is not uncomfortable to travel.
It’s also true that for the foreigners can be hard to get to some places, in those cases
you have to specify where you go because we don’t have bus stops but terminals for the
buses departures and arrivals but there are not names in which the foreigners can guide,
so you must to tell to the driver like “ah, I’m leaving int his place or I’m going
to this place” and they will let you know when you arrived there.
-So, since you must advise where you are leaving.
¿How important is for you to learn Spanish if you go to Colombia?
-Well, it could be important to learn some basic questions words, like ask how is the other person,
“Where is this place?”
Like the basics “Where?”
“How are you?”
“Hello!”
also know how to answer they you are ok “I need this” “Could you help me?”
or “Please” because education it’s very important because those are basic words that
any person can say easily.
The public transportation in Medellin is relatively good, we have Metro, we have Cable Car, we
have buses, MetroPlus we have the integrated system and a lot of ways to move, indeed.
I think that this is the best public transportation of the country.
In fact, we are the only city with Metro in Colombia, right?
That make us a little bit different and make our lives easier somehow,
but for people like me for example, people with problems trying to be in crowded places it’s another thing, right?
We find it more complicated but if usually you want to go to any neighborhood, you will
find a bus or an alimentador, Alimentador is like a bus connected with Metro and it’s
cheaper and takes you to your destination.
Medellin it’s like a municipality, but there’s the metropolitan conformed for 10 municipalities;
This metropolitan area it’s what all the world talk about and known as Medellin city,
that areas includes La Estrella, includes Caldas, includes Envigado, Itagui, Includes
Medellin, Bello, Niquia, Copacabana, I mean there are a lot, 10 municipalities, I think
I forgot to mention at least 2 more but that’s the way it Works.
So, there are a lot of municipalities and in all of them you will find a good public
transportation.
You get to a bus stop and they will take you wherever you want to go, honestly the public
transportation here in Medellin is really good, the thing is that there are a lot of people.
- Well, the public transportation I think is great comparing with other places I’ve
been to, for example Panama or in the USA the transportation is complicated, there are
not enough buses or they don’t go frequently or you don’t know how to get to the buses,
in some cities there are not Metro, so I think that in Medellín there is a good public transportation
also comparing with some places in Europe, there are not stops so you will have to guess
where you are.
For example, if you come from Medellin to Santa Fe the way to arrive without any problem
it’s asking, talking, or finding a way to make yourself understand to other people,
you can go and tell the driver “Hey, I please leave me in this place” and they will let
you know as soon you are there.
There are motorcycles, motorcycle taxis, there are a lot of transportation means so you won’t
have any problem.
Let me ask you, I’ve been told already that I have to ask to get somewhere.
¿How much important is for you to know Spanish here in Colombia?
At least a little.
-A lot, I would say!
I say it is important because we are not used to other languages, for example, I speak English
and people see that as a novelty but in other countries like Panamá there are more people
talking in English, so I feel that the people talking another language here is few and it’s
very important to know it (Spanish) if you want to come because drivers here don’t
speak English or people from restaurants either, so I think it’s important that you start
learning at least a few words or download Google translator because surely you will
have to use it.