Now, it might be a little confusing but I wasn't done with my posts about the Dominican Republic. Today, I'd like to blog about transportation within Santo Domingo.
There's a very neat subway system, the Metro. It's clean, air-conditioned, and safe. The first line opened in 2009. Since it's fairly new, there are only two lines but there are supposed to be 6 lines in total, when everything is done. You can find further information in Spanish on the official homepage << click >>.
You can buy a plastic card for recharging purposes or buy one-way paper tickets, which look like this. One ride costs 20 Pesos, which are like 0.40€.
As I said, it's very safe. On each ride that we went, there were police officers with us.
Line 1 goes from north (Villa Mella) to south (Centro de Los Heroes). The stations are:
- Mamá Tingó
- Gregorio Urbano Gilbert
- Gregorio Luperón
- José Francisco Peña Gómez
- Hermanas Mirabal
- Máximo Gómez
- Los Taínos
- Pedro Livio Cedeño
- Peña Batlle
- Centro Olímpico Juan Pablo Duarte
- Juan Bosch
- Casandra Damirón
- Joaquín Balaguer
- Amín Abel
- Francisco Alberto Caamaño
- Centro de los Héroes
Line 2 goes from Ave. Luperon to Puente de la 17. I think, it's from west to the center. The second half of line 2 will continue to the east of santo Domingo. The stations for line 2 are:
- María Montez
- Pedro F. Bonó
- Francisco G. Billini
- Ulises F. Espaillat
- Pedro Mir
- Freddy Beras Goico
- Juan U. García F.
- Centro Olímpico Juan Pablo Duarte
- Cnel. Rafael T Fernandez D.
- Mauricio Báez
- Ramón Cáceres
- Horacio Vásquez
- Manuel de Jesus Galván
- Eduardo Brit
There are also other possibilities to travel around the city. Of course you can take a taxi. If you take a taxi from a company and don't travel too far, it's 150 Pesos, which are 3€. That's still very affordable. It doesn't matter if the cab has air-conditioning, it's the same prize.
Then, you can be a bit more adventurous. You can take a collective taxi, which can be recognized by the sign on the car that also tells you its route. They normally transport 6 people, 4 in the back and 2 next to the driver.
If you're lucky, your collective cab might look like a normal car. Otherwise, you might be traveling in something like this...
Sometimes I'm surprised, how the cars are still able to drive... You think, it'll pass the German TÜV? ;-)
Because of these seats, I always wear leggings or jeans so that my skin doesn't touch anything... I don't wanna know about all the bacteria.
Anyway, one ride costs 25 Pesos (0.50€). These cars run everywhere and very frequently. They have certain routes and they stop whenever you tell them. If someone is fat or wants a bit more comfort, they pay for the amount of seats, they need.
I'd be too afraid to use a collective cab - at least those in the last pictures^^
ReplyDeleteHehe... If I was alone, I would have been scared as well :)
Deletedas sind tolle bilder :)
ReplyDeleteoh gott bei den schrottkarren hätte ich aber auch angst :(
Ohne meinen Freund wäre ich auch nie eingestiegen... Aber zum Glück ist es relativ langsamer Stadtverkehr. Auf der Autobahn könnte so ein Auto auch sicherlich nicht mehr fahren. :)
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