Chile Guide
Getting Around
Local buses, colectivos and taxis
Local buses, often called micros, connect city centres with residential outskirts, and with nearby villages. These buses are often packed, and travelling with a large rucksack can be a problem, particularly if your journey coincides with students going to or from college, or with market day. Buses sticking to the confines of the town or city usually drive up and down the principal thoroughfares, and around the central square – the main points of the route and final destination are displayed on the inside of the front window, but it always helps to carry a street map and be able to point to your intended destination. Buses that leave the city for the countryside normally depart from their own terminal rural, which is usually next door or close to the Mercado Municipal (market building).
For some journeys, a faster alternative is provided by colectivos, which are shared taxis operating along a set route with fixed fares, normally only slightly more expensive than the local buses. Most colectivos look exactly like normal taxis (apart from being all black, not black and yellow) and have their route or final destination marked on a board on the roof, but in some cities, colectivo services are operated by bright yellow cars, often without a roof-board.
Taxis are normally black with a yellow roof, and in the bigger cities can be flagged down quickly on the street. Alternatively, you can usually find them on or near the central square, as well as outside bus terminals and train stations. As Chilean taxi drivers are often eager to charge foreigners too much, it's worth checking to see that the meter has been turned on before you start a journey and, if possible in Spanish, get an estimate for the fare to the nearest 500 pesos. Fares are clearly shown in the windscreen – but there is no limit to what the driver can charge, as long as it corresponds to the advertised price. Nearly all taxis will have similar signs – one saying 150 pesos (which is the starting price) and another saying 80 or 90 pesos, the fee per 200 metre increments. At tourist hotels beware of taxis that put two signs for 150 in the window and thus charge double.