Second Guessing the Phone Lady

Before heading out to the museum on Saturday afternoon, I called the transit line to figure out which bus I should take to get from my place in Santo Amaro to the museum in Ipiranga. Even by car, it would take at least half an hour to get from one to the other. There are two spots close to my house from which I can catch a bus: on Washington Luis, just under a ten minute walk east of my place; and on Adolpho Pinheiro, just over a ten minute walk west. The phone lady informed me that I should first catch a bus on Washington Luis and then transfer to a second bus somewhere near Ibirapeura Park. Never fully believing the phone people without checking for myself, I cross-referenced the two routes in my route guide, and found out that I could actually catch the second bus right from Adolpho Pinheiro.

Once I had verified that it wasn’t the milkrun to top all milkruns, I headed towards Adolpho Pinheiro and caught the second bus right off the bat. It took me exactly an hour to get to the museum once I caught the bus, which is fairly standard for Sao Paulo. Of course, it is impossible to tell whose route would have been faster. Although the route I ultimately chose had some minor milkrun elements to it, it also meant that I did not lose any time either transferring buses, or even trying to figure out where to hop on and off. Since bus stops are not actually marked, it takes a bit of guess work to figure out where to stand! In all, another successful adventure in public transportation!