The International Transport Game

[Springs Branch]

.... In fact pretty much every website is steadfastly stuck in Portuguese

It's true all the useful stuff beyond the home page is in Portugese. A bit of informed guesswork and/or use of Google Translate is needed!

Leaving the rail station to the adjacent bus terminal we board EMTU bus service 144 back to downtown Sao Paulo, leaving at 2200, arriving at the bus stop at Brás (Line 3) Metro station at 0020 Wednesday morning.

Source: emtu.sp.gov.br

 

[dzug2]

And the English where it exists requires a lot of interpretation

going through locks to come a station?

 

[Bodie]

The Metro has ended for the night, so we do likewise. Seeking shelter we head to the Cathedral next to the station. The pews are not the comfiest bed but we still get some shut eye. Making our way out still in the dead of night we leave a small donation to say thank you.

We head back to Bras as the Metro still isn't up and running till 0440. We have an earlier departure available at 0400 with CPTM Line 10 train to Rio Grande Da Serra where we arrive at 0524 on Wednesday morning

Source: Google maps

 

[Springs Branch]

Portugese phrase book in hand, we join early morning commuters on a local bus.

Outside the station we board EMTU bus service 117 at 0605 for the trip to the CPTM Line 10 rail station at Ribeirão Pires, arriving at 0635 Wednesday morning.

Source: emtu.sp.gov.br

 

[Bodie]

Entering the station we rejoin Line 10 towards Sao Paulo.
No exact departure times just that trains leave every 15 minutes. So going off times later in the day that I can now see on Google maps, I will go for the following...

...CPTM Line 10 leaving 0652 and going to Prefeito Celso Daniel - Santo Andre arriving at 0720 on Wednesday morning

Source: Google maps

 

[DasLunatic]

We then decide to look at Brazil's leading technology college by making the 400m walk to R. Bernardino de Campos, 170. Three minutes later, our 432 bus shows up, and we find a seat for the 50 minute journey to Av. Dr. Rudge Ramos, 720-790, arriving at 0829 Wednesday morning.

Google Maps

 

[Springs Branch]

A quick exploration of buses available from Av. Dr Rudge Ramos reveals we're in good time for a no. 217, which will take us to the bus terminal at Rodoviário do Tietê.

(According to this Wikipedia article, this is the second-largest bus terminal in the world, from where there are buses to both São Paulo Guarulhos & Congonhas airports).

We board EMTU bus service 217 at 0840, arriving at Terminal Rodoviário do Tietê at 1005 Wednesday morning.

Source: emtu.sp.gov.br and Google Maps

 

[Bodie]

Very much like Vancouver, I'm sure we'll return one day to Sao Paulo. Such a wealth of public transport.

Taking Springs Branch very good find and advise we wish to see Sao Paulo's second airport.

Boarding EMTU's Airport Bus Service circular at 1030 we go to Congonhas Airport arriving at 1110 on Wednesday morning

Source: Google maps

 

[Springs Branch]

We board TAM Linhas Aereas 3926 leaving at 1230, landing at Rio De Janeiro - Galeão at 1329 Wednesday afternoon.

Source: flightstats.com

 

[dzug2]

We take TAM flight JJ8038 at 1432 to Montevideo (MVD) Uruguay, arriving at 1642 Wednesday afternoon

source skyscanner

 

[Springs Branch]

Next we take Aerolineas Argentinas flight AR2399, departing at 1755, arriving at Buenos Aires - Jorge Newbery (AEP) at 1848 Wednesday evening.

Source: flightstats.com

 

[Bodie]

Getting details for onward ground travel here is tricky. However I think I've managed it. Thankfully looks a lot more inviting once in out of the airport.

Taking the Manuel Tienda Leon bus service which leaves on the hour. With this being a small airport we are able to make the 1900 departure. We arrive at Terminal Manuel Tienda Leon on Ave Eduardo Madero at 1920, the traffic having been fairly light. The time of day is still Wednesday evening

Source: http://www.toandfromtheairport.com/buenosaires.html

Other players may wish to change clothes on their turn, but I'm sporting a 'Falklands - Forever British' T-shirt for our time in Argentina

 

[johnnychips]

Noting this terminal is very near to the Retiro hub for coach travel, wearing our 'Malvinas Si! Thatcher no!' * T-shirt, we take the 2000 Micromar service to Mar Del Plata bus terminal, San Juan 1521 arriving 0115 on Thursday morning.

http://www.omnilineas.com/argentina/bus/retiro/mar-del-plata/

* Sorry, my I-Pad doesn't do upside-down exclamation marks.

This website gives ticket prices

http://www.empresaargentina.com.ar

And I think we are talking about £31.

 

[dzug2]

There are a few departures from Mar del Plata to other interesting destinations but they involve waiting for 12 hours or more.

So we reluctantly take the 0130 Flechabus back to Buenos Aires Retiro, (whence there's very frequent departures) arriving at 0645 Thursday morning

source: as johnnychips

 

[Bodie]

We mull over the timetables having walked over to the railway station. Our fancied trip only leaves a couple of times a week, so to kill time we go and explore this huge city. Starting with the Underground.

We travel the whole length of line C leaving at 0652 and arrive at the other end at Constitución at 0705 on Thursday morning

Source: Google maps

 

[Springs Branch]

We enter Constitución railway station to sample the Buenos Aires Roca commuter Line.

We board Trenes Argentinos Train no. 3047, departing 0720, arriving at Temperley at 0747 Thursday morning.

Source: sofse.gob.ar

[Edit] Looks like Google Maps has incomplete coverage of suburban railway stations in Buenos Aires. Some stations are shown on the on-line maps normally, other stations which appear on current railway maps & timetables are not labelled as such on G/Maps - even though Google's satellite view clearly shows there is a substantial railway station there (e.g. at Temperley!)

 

[Bodie]

Yes, you would think a major junction station as Temperly seems to be would be marked on Google maps.

Anyway, we change here and board Trenes Argentinos 4511 at 0801 to Haedo arriving 0900 exactly on Thursday morning

Source: sofse.gob.ar

 

[Springs Branch]

At Haedo we transfer to the Sarmiento Line heading back towards downtown Buenos Aires.

Trains are frequent and we do not have long to wait for Train no. 3760 leaving at 0907, arriving at Once station at 0946 Thursday morning.

Source: sofse.gob.ar

 

[Bodie]

Walking over to the nearby Underground station of Plaza Miserere we take a A line Subte train at 0957 to Perú arriving at 1005 on Thursday morning

Source: Google maps

 

[Springs Branch]

Getting specific info on city buses in Buenos Aires (other than their routes) seems to be impossible, despite the OmniLineas website written in excellent English. But we do have the opportunity to get from our present location to Ezeiza International Airport using Bus Route 8, for the princely fare of about £0.15.

Colectivo bus Route 8 runs about every 45 mins and takes up to 2 hours at certain times of day (what do you want for 15p?), so let's hang about at the stop on the corner of Chacabuco & Ave. de Mayo (where Google Street View shows a no. 8 bus picking up) and see what happens.

• We leave about 1050, arriving at Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport at 1250 Thursday afternoon.

Source: www.toandfromtheairport.com/buenosaires.html and http://www.omnilineas.com/argentina/buenos-aires/city-bus/bh-6ic-fmd-6ex-flh-6gu-fqd
(plus: http://www.argentinaindependent.com/travel/top-5-ways-to-ezeiza-and-back/ and http://www.argentinaindependent.com/life-style/thecity/colectivaizeishon/colectivaizeishon-the-8/ )

 

[dzug2]

We take one of the few domestic flights from the international airport, AR1844 at 1335 to Rio Grande (RGA) arriving at 1705 Thursday afternoon

Source: https://vuelos.aerolineas.com.ar/SSW2010/ARAR/webqtrip.html?execution=e1s2

 

[johnnychips]

Let's move on a bit and take the LADE 5U 417 flight at 1840 from Rio Grande (Argentina) to Rio Gallegos (RGL) arriving 1930 on Thursday evening.

http://www.lade.com.ar/res/avail.php

 

[Bodie]

We walk down the steps onto the tarmac and survey this sleepy little airport. Having ticked it off our 'Argentina airports to visit' check list we are keen to move on.
We are however dismayed to discover we've just missed a flight and the only other departure is the flight we just got off. Even complete with the same flight number.
As we hold the sacred rulebook in our grasp we vow to suffer whatever hardship may come our way, in order for us to obey those rules.
We nervously enquire as to the first available flight. A mere 7 hours we are told.

After a somewhat patchy sleep we climb aboard Aerolineas Argentinas 1883 the 0230 departure to Buenos Aires - Jorge Newbury (AEP) where we arrive at 0530 Friday morning

Source: flightstats.com

PS - As regards your last post Mr SpringsBranch, in getting us to the airport. Sir are a genius, and this game is forever indebted to you.

 

[Springs Branch]

PS - As regards your last post Mr SpringsBranch, in getting us to the airport. Sir are a genius, and this game is forever indebted to you.

Not sure about genius, it just shows I've got too much time to waste trawling the internet for obscure travel plans & related information.

What might have been clever would be to get us onboard one of the LAN Airlines scheduled flights from Rio Gallegos to MPN Airport on the Falkland Islands. Unfortunately these only operate once per week (on Saturdays?) and it's the only way to fly to the Falklands from Argentina (Argentinian airlines still don't fly this route).

Anyhow, continuing our travels, the huge majority of flights from Buenos Aires AEP are to domestic Argentine destinations. We decide to wait a litte longer than we might normally do in order to score an international connection ....

• LAN Airlines 438 departing 0750, arriving at Santiago (SCL) at 1015 Friday morning.

Source: flightstats.com

 

[Bodie]

Once again your knowledge puts me to shame. I honestly had thought about how we might get to the Falklands. However I was convinced the political situation meant no flights to or from Argentina. You learn something new every day. Maybe the Falklands one day.

Back in Santiago, we take the Centropuerto bus service to Metro Los Heroes leaving at 1045 and arriving at 1130 on Friday morning

Source: www.centropuerto.cl/?page_id=6023

Just a frequency and estimated travel time.

 

[Springs Branch]

Another day, another huge & fascinating South American city (7 million population in metro area). And another batch of transit websites to navigate in Spanish.

Since we're playing on RailUK Forums, we have a duty to take a look at Santiago Central Station.
We enter Los Héroes Metro station and take a Line 1 train at 1140 alighting at Estación Central at 1144 Friday morning.

Source: metro.cl
(On-line planner gives 4 minute journey time but no specific departure times. Google Maps suggests train frequency of every 4 minutes.)

 

[Bodie]

Tried my best to get some kind of timetable, any timetable for mainline services from this station, but just cannot find anything. We have at least seen it.

Let's therefore explore more of the city and it's metro system. While we dream of travelling to somewhere in the world with easy to research public transportation.

We join Line 1 again and at 1200 we depart for San Pablo where we arrive at 1211 on Friday morning

Source: www.metro.cl

Again just approximate times between stations.

 

[johnnychips]

The trains on Linea 5 depart San Pablo every two minutes, so let's take one at 1220, say, arriving at Mirador at 1254 on Friday afternoon.

http://www.metrosantiago.cl/estacion/plano-red

then

Google Maps

 

[DasLunatic]

Through the power of Google Maps...

We enjoy a pleasant 900m stroll to PD30 - Exequiel Fernández Esq., where after a wait, a 117 bus turns up at 1319. We're told about Chile playing a friendly international match against Finland, so we alight at PD46 - Parada / Liceo Diego Portales, the time now being 1340 Friday afternoon.

The stadium is 90m away, kickoff is 1500 local time

Google Maps

 

[Bodie]

Why not. Can't find that match. Either way we go and sit in the stadium for 90 minutes. We may or may not see a football match.
After our stadium visit, we go to PD528 Parada 3/Estadio Nacional and at 1700 we take a 126 to PD130 Parada 8 Macul (M) arriving at 1732 on Friday afternoon

Source: Google maps