"You're more Panamanian than me," was the response I got after explaining all the different ways a Panama native friend could take public transportation to get from inside the city to my house just outside the city.
This wealth of knowledge is all due to learning how to get myself to our internship work space in Panama City. Turns out not having a car and still wanting a social life is a really good way to motivate me to figure out how to get around for my 4 months in Panama. Figuring out how to use public transportation has been instrumental in giving me a sense of independence and pride while living here. Now it's my turn to give back by helping educate others to feel confident about traveling in Panama City.
Traffic here has opened my eyes to how crippling a seemingly simply commute can be. Depending on your priorities it can be either time crippling or wallet crippling. I'll show you what I mean with examples I've tried out during the last 3 months here after I give you a background story.
I've never had to think much about my commute to work or anywhere else while living in Cedar City, UT. With it's population of just over 30k in 2016 and it's 36.8 square miles of coverage, it's basically a small quaint city nestled in the heart of southern Utah. Even when I lived on the other end of town, I always knew on any given day it would take a maximum of 15 minutes to get me from home to work. I lived 7.5 miles away from where my job was so the kind of traffic I'm used to is basically none. Panama City was my wake up call to what traffic really could be like with its population of 881K and 106 square miles.
When I first started going into the city using the bus system it usually took 90 minutes to get to our work space and would cost about $1.35 one way and required the many following steps:
Walk the 5 minutes to the bus stop from our house.
Wait anywhere from 5-20 minutes for the bus (before I knew about the MiBus App)
Take a 15 minute bus ride ($0.75) to the main road
Walk 10 minutes to next bus stop
Wait for the new bus to arrive
Ride new bus ($0.25) for 20-30 minutes
Walk to the Metro
Wait for the Metro
Ride the Metro ($0.35) for 20 more minutes
Walk 5 minutes
Arrive at The Cube work space
So to recap: 90 minutes (14 miles) + $1.35 + 3 different bus routes = personal exhaustion.
If you're used to public transportation, you might be thinking: "big deal," "that's not that bad," or possibly "suck it up buttercup". Please just remember that I've never needed to use public transportation until this trip and for me it was a hugely stress inducing and at times frustrating activity for me to do multiple times a week. It's so different than anything I grew up with and is a huge learning curve that teaches me patience about waiting since there's a lot of start and stop in the steps.
You see, the house I'm staying at during my internship is about 14 miles away from the office space we now have in the city. In Cedar City, that would be easy, 20 minutes and you're probably there. In Panama City, that same 14 miles can take anywhere from 30-90+ minutes to travel depending on time, day, and method(s) of transportation. Oh and don't forget to factor in increased traffic if Panama has a festival or celebration going on (which happens frequently).
Another factor into deciding how to get around more efficiently is due to my Highly Sensitive Personality (HSP). Panama is big, loud, crowded, and new to me (I also don't speak Spanish), which tends to drain my energy faster than usual because everything is so overwhelming/ overstimulating on my nerves. When this happens, I often get irritable and have a hard time making decisions. This is turn makes me more emotional and I have a tendency to cry because I'm frustrated and don't know how or what to do. It can all be extremely awkward in public, which usually makes me even more emotional. Thankfully these days I'm tuned into myself well enough to know when I get triggered and can work my way through the feelings better than in the past. One of the ways I've found to do this in Panama is to find the least stressful/ overwhelming way to get travel around the city.
I'm extremely happy to announce that after over a month of trying out different methods of transportation, continuing to tell myself "there's got to be a better way," and talking to locals in spanglish when possible that my daily commute is looking quite fantastic.
Walk 5 mins. to the bus stop (after checking MiBus to make sure it's close)
Get on the bus ($0.75) going the OPPOSITE direction of the way I used to go
Ride that bus for 40 minutes (20 minutes if there's no traffic!)
Walk 15 minutes
Arrive at The Cube work space
Done! Finished! I have arrived! Pass go and collect $200! That' pretty much how I felt the first time I took this new route into the city and was extremely consciously aware of how much better I felt throughout the rest of the day. I still went home my usual way (via Metro, Pirata Bus, and Chivas) simply because be the end of the day I knew I didn't have the capacity to be okay if something went wrong on the way home... It had been such a great day I didn't want to spoil it. The second time I tried using the same route I was late or the bus was late and I ended up taking a $16 taxi back into town. That's when I really started figuring out the MiBus App, which actually shows you in real time where the bus is along that route and it's been incredibly smooth sailing since then!
There are so many ways to get around in Panama City that I'm just going to give a quick overview of a couple ways getting into the city looks like. Remember this is still just a one-way trip.
$0.00 + 90 mins. sitting = Personal car (doesn't include finding a parking spot)
$16.00 + 90 mins. sitting = Uber or Taxi Direct Drop Off
$3.65 + 50 mins. sitting = Personal Car on Freeway (doesn't include finding a parking spot)
$0.95 + 45 mins. = Chiva Bus -> Metro Line 2 -> Metro Line 1 (Available in May 2019)
If you don't speak Spanish very well, the Chivas, Metro and MetroBus, and Uber are great ways to travel because they have set costs (or costs you agree to ahead of time). These are great options because they have set routes and costs for you and you don't have to worry about being overcharged. Uber is perfect for getting you to exactly where you need to be, but if you have a general idea of where you're going the others are less expensive.
If you are comfortable speaking Spanish and are able to give directions to where you're trying to go a Taxi works great as well. They will be more expensive than the other options, but still cost less than the Uber. Typically in Panama the minimum cost for a ride is $1.50 and then it goes up from there. Drivers also add an extra 50 cents per additional person. So if your ride costs $1.50 and there are four passengers, you will most likely pay $3.00 for your ride.
A very large plus about not taking the Metro and Metrobus is that you don't have to spend the time stopping at all of the stations they have, allowing you a faster and more direct route to your destination. For Panama another thing to consider when getting rides is to ask how much extra it would be to take the Freeway, which can reduce your travel time immensely. I've traveled buy bus for 80 minutes where the same route on the freeway takes only 20 minutes. Remember that it costs money to use the freeway though. So again it's the choice between time and money.
If you have the time right now, I highly suggest watching the video ablove to get a rich understanding of the Chiva/ Los Diablos Rojos that was featured in the Panalandia Film Festival earlier this year! If you don't have the time, just enjoy some last minute Panama transportation tips!
Don't be afraid to haggle your Taxi cost a little if you're not Panamanian. Yes- you will get charged more if you can't speak Spanish and look American. That's normal. If you're able to ask "¿Cuánto cuesta?" meaning "how much?" it will at least give you an idea of how much it will cost you and you can try lowering the price BEFORE getting into the taxi.
If you're taking a bus out of the city from Albrook, take a jacket! It gets ridiculously cold in the buses. I didn't know before going to Bocas del Toro and ended up being cold for 12 hours.
It's worth trying out all the transportation options if you're going to be in the city more than a few weeks and need to get to different parts of the city/country. If you're on a budget or looking for ways to save money for other things anyways.
If money isn't a concern; sit back and let your Uber driver lead the way! I like this option over a Taxi simply because I've found it hard to give directions to places. Uber let's you put in directly where you want to go and tells you the price before you even accept the ride.
Download local transportation apps to help you learn the area and routes faster. I waited almost 3 months before really trying out MiBus and wish I had tried it so much sooner! Now I can use MiBus to see where the bus is on the route I take to know when I need to be at the station by.
If you don't have a flexible schedule for the day, try out a new route than normal. Each time I did, I discovered easier, faster, cheaper, and better ways to travel for myself.
I hope this post has been helpful in showing you just how many different ways one can travel in Panama and the pro's and con's to each method! If you are considering moving to Panama and stumbled across this, I recommend the podcast "So, You want to move to Panama?" by Dr. Jennifer Daniels who is from the U.S.A. and has lived in Panama for over a decade now.
If you've enjoyed reading this, perhaps you'll like my Handmade Jewelry as well! Visit my Instagram account by clicking the logo below and remember to always be Uniquely You.
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