By anuhyabobba
The colectivo is a blessing but can also be a burden. Colectivos are the public buses in Argentina and my primary mode of transportation from place to place. To ride a colectivo, you have to buy a SUBE card (the equivalent of a Smartrip). Colectivos do not accept cash normally, and if you find a colectivo that does, it will only take coins. So a SUBE card is a must and that can be bought at numerous locations like major post offices. The SUBE can be used for both the bus system and also the subway (but I rarely use the subway).
Numerous lines run throughout the city, and so it can be overwhelming when you first enter Buenos Aires to truly grasp the system. But, once you gain a hold of it, you become highly dependent on it and will come to appreciate how cheap of a method it is for transportation purposes. A typical ride on the colectivo only costs around 3.25 pesos (less than a dollar). I charge my SUBE card for around 50 pesos (or less 5 US dollars), and that will last me for the week. You can charge your SUBE at what are called kioskos here. Kioskos are mini shops that sell snacks and drinks and are also places where you can recharge your SUBE or your cellphone. Just look for the sign outside the kiosko that reads “Hay SUBE” and go on ahead. While taking a taxi in Buenos Aires can also be cheap, the costs compound after multiple rides and will eventually be where you are channeling a lot of money to unknowingly -- a mistake I made in the beginning.
The website many of classmates and I use to know which colectivo to take to reach a certain destination is this: http://www.omnilineas.com.ar/buenos-aires/colectivos/. It will map out which line to take and from where and also if you need to connect to another line after a certain point. It is tremendously helpful and saves the trouble of getting lost in what is already a massive city.
Colectivos run regularly on weekdays, but becomes irregular toward the night. The same can be said for the weekends for the most part. But, the one major problem everyone faces with the colectivo is that there is no said schedule. You honestly will never know when a colectivo will arrive at your bus stop. There are times where I have waited for 25 minutes to catch one, and there are times where one arrives as soon as I get to the bus stop. It is really up to luck, and that can become frustrating when you need to be somewhere at a certain time. Also, during rush hour, people will be crammed into the colectivos. Maximum occupancy does not seem to be followed, so people just come and come until either the bus driver decides there is no more room or until there is physically no way for another person to fit. In these scenarios, do what you would do in the DC metro. Front pack your back pack or hold tightly onto your belongings. The less careful you are, the more likely you are to be pick pocketed -- this logic holds in DC and in general big cities.
Finally, one helpful bit of information: you can charge your SUBE up to negative 10 pesos or three extra colectivo rides in case you are running low and cannot find a kiosko that will recharge your card for you in time.