Our experiences with people on public transport in Central/South America mirror yours. We’ve had people almost hold our hands to make sure we get of the bus at the right spot. It’s a great experience.

@Leigh: The buses in Buenos Aires are daunting at first and it does feel like a victory each time you successfully make a trip. I abandoned our Guia T in Buenos Aires after about a week and started using http://www.comoviajo.com to plan our route by bus. You insert a from address, a to address and how many blocks your willing to walk and it spits out your public transport options with a rough map. That said, I still have to rely on my map to figure out where we are once we’re on the bus. We usually end up in the right place…more or less.

As accustomed to bus and train as I am, I still found the bus system in Buenos Aires is daunting. I had my Guia T and studied it. Before each trip I would map out my route, plan the streets and while on the bus, I flipped from page to page of the guide to keep track of my whereabouts.

But man, did I feel like I’d accomplished something by the end of it all.

And yes, no better way to see a city.

Great suggestion on the bus card, so long as it’s an available option (which, unfortunately here in Buenos Aires it’s not…so it’s always a dig-through-the-pocket exercise).

My only added advice would be that if you are going to be living in one of these places for a while, see if they have a bus card. It makes it much easier to whip out your bus card, rather than dig in your pockets searching through unfamiliar coins for the correct amount.

With few cars available in the first half century of the 1900’s they were the preferred choice for safe, inexpensive public transportation often serving as a common meeting ground for folks of all backgrounds. Versatility was also one of their features since they could be operated from either end simply by lowering and raising the arm that connected to their overhead power source. At 70,000 Scranton is now less than half of what it was then when it was a major landing point for European immigrant groups who were promptly channeled into the numerous area coal mines. They served a unique purpose and the charm that we lost in their passing can still be seen in the Scranton Trolley Museum where some have been restored and are now housed. They stand as a testament to all the good that public transportation represents everywhere.