Reflection #2: Things That Are Different Can Work Quite Well

From a North American perspective, there are many aspects of life in Costa Rica that shouldn't work. But they do work...and work quite well.

300 Routes

Take the bus system for example.

There are more than 300 bus routes in Costa Rica. The government puts these routes up for tender by privately owned companies.

The routes are awarded to the companies whose tenders best meet defined criteria, which presumably include specific area to be served and fares.

As a result there are hundreds of companies operating thousands of buses in serving these routes.

For those of us accustomed to publicly owned municipal transportation systems and one huge private company—Greyhound--dominating the private sector, the patch-work quilt approach in Costa Rica seems chaotic. But in fact, it works quite well.

In the central valley, where the majority of the population lives, hundreds of buses carrying thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of passengers make their way to and from downtown San Jose every day.

In outlying communities such as Alajuela, Curridabat, Desamparados, Escazu, Guadalupe, San Francisco, Uruca and Zapote, these buses pick up passengers at unmarked stops or wherever the passengers flag down their buses.

The buses themselves range from the strictly utilitarian models such as the flat nose Bluebird buses that serve San Francisco to the spiffier late model Mercedes and Volvo units that serve upscale Uruca and Zapote.

In San Jose each route has its own unmarked spot on some unnamed street... somewhere in the downtown area.

Changing buses means paying full fare on the second, third, or perhaps even fourth bus to be taken. But that's OK...fares seldom go higher than 400 colones or about 75¢.

Outside The GAM

A similar situation exists outside the Gran Area Metropolitana (GAM), which is roughly the urban area surrounding San Jose, which in turn is most of the Central Valley.

One is that there are of course fewer long distance bus companies, which operate out of about 15 terminals scattered around San Jose.

The terminals range from the tired and old, dirty and dangerous 'Coca Cola' to the sleek and modern Gran Terminal Caribe.

Coca Cola, which is little more than a wide alleyway is the former Coca Cola bottling plant. At this terminal, which serves about a dozen companies, passengers routinely sit on their luggage to prevent it from being stolen.

When scheduling arrivals at Coca Cola, most people try to arrive during the daylight hours.

The danger factor may or may not decrease with the new presence of armed police officers. That of course depends upon the vigilance of the individual police officers and how long the increased police profile initiated by the new security minister remains in place.

The Gran Terminal Caribe is the cleanest and best bus terminal I have ever seen. It also serves about a dozen companies, all of which serve the Eastern part of Costa Rica.

The spotlessly clean terminal includes 3 separate food courts offering everything from North American fast food favourites to typical Costa Rican and Caribbean food.

Regardless of company or terminal, all long distance buses match...and in many cases exceed...Greyhound standards.

Tica buses, which operate on routes from San Jose to other Central American countries and Mexico are far superior to anything I have ever seen wearing the legendary greyhound logo.

Similarly, the bus that I took back from Manuel Antonio last week was cleaner and more comfortable than any Greyhound bus I have ever been on.

Regardless of which route or area buses serve, from my experience they share 3 characteristics:

1. The fares are very low.

Inside the GAM, fares range from about 25¢ about 75¢.
Outside the GAM the fare for a 4-hour bus ride is typically $5.00-$7.00.

2. They get passengers where they are going...usually on schedule.

It is not uncommon for drivers to take detours to avoid congestion.

3. The buses are litter-free

Every bus has a litter basket by the back door, where departing passengers deposit food wrappers and other debris from the journey.

As I said at the beginning, from a North American perspective, the crazy patch-work quilt of the Costa Rican bus system shouldn't work. But it does.

Not only does it work, it works very well.

If the purpose of a public bus system is move a large number of passengers, inexpensively and on schedule, the Costa Rican bus system achieves this purpose better than most North American public transportation systems.

The Costa Rican bus system is one of many examples of things that from a North American perspective simply should not work...but in fact work better than their North American counterparts.

The moral of the message:

just because something is different from what you are used to,
it does not not mean that it is not good and that it will not work.