Transportation

[SonoAndrea]

Hello Everyone,
My name is Andrea. My husband and I currently live in Jacksonville, FL, and are considering an opportunity to relocate to Buenos Aires with my husband's company. His office would be located in the Puerto Madera area. I was wondering how far this is from the airport and from Recoleta, Palermo, and Palermo Viejo? Also, how is the transportation in BA? Will we need a car or can we get by with bus/taxi/train service? Finally, my husband is physically disabled (he is an amputee who walks with crutches). How handicap-accessible/friendly is BA? Any information you can provide would be most appreciated. Thank you in advance!Andrea

 

[RWS]

PM is much less than an hour (by fast taxi in light traffic) from Ezeiza and reasonable walking distance from the northern barrios (neighborhoods). Public transportation, by 'bus, taxi, and subway, is good; I don't need a car and doubt that you will, though you might want it at times.
Regrettably, the city is not set up for everyone. Any person with physical handicaps may find it difficult to get around (uneven, narrow sidewalks might be particularly troublesome). If, however, your husband will be paid an American salary, he could afford to take a taxi anywhere, at any time, and few buildings lack elevators.
I wish you both well.

 

[ReemsterCARP]

Hey Andrea,
Public transportation within the city of Buenos Aires is pretty good. You can get from almost anywhere in the city to your destination (wherever it may be in the city), because the city boasts an excellent bus network. It's a little tricky to find out which bus goes where, but there's a handy guide, called "Guia T", which you can buy on any street corner and will tell you what buses to take.
On top of that Buenos Aires has got a few subway lines (called "subte"). It's not really fine mazed (the network), but the city centre and the well to do neighbourhoods like Palermo and Belgrano are well served.
Puerto Madero itself hasn't got a subte stop, but if you take a bus to Plaza de Mayo (pretty nearby), you can hop onto one of the subte lines.
Puerto Madero isn't close to the International Airport "Ministro Pistarini" (popularly called "Ezeiza"), which is situated in the provinces of Buenos Aires and not the city. From Puerto Madero I guess it'll be 40 minutes by car.
Puerto Madero is somewhat close to the Ddomestic Airport "Aeroparque Jorge Newberry". It should take you 15 minutes by car.
I Wouldn't say that Buenos Aires is a handicap-friendly city although things are improving. The thing is that most of the sidewalks are broken and have loose tiles (even in very affluent neighbourhoods). Most modern buses and subway trains do have got handicap friendly seats. Most of the subte stops have escalators, and some of them have elevators.
This is what i can tell you in general about public transport in Buenos Aires. But I'm sure there are people that live in Puerto Madero that can give your more specific information on the subject!
Greetings,
Reemster

 

[bigbadwolf]

PM ... and reasonable walking distance from the northern barrios (neighborhoods). Public transportation, by 'bus, taxi, and subway, is good; I don't need a car and doubt that you will, though you might want it at times.

Puerto Madeiro is a vigorous 75 minute walk from Recoleta (I've done it many a time), and one has to cross many streets with careless Argentinian drivers.With buses, it can be a problem jumping on and off them. Not like the USA at all.

 

[RWS]

I guess it pays to have long legs! PM - Recoleta = 40 min. tops -- barring extraordinary traffic, of course.
True, Buenos Aires and Argentina are not like the USA or UK. Thankfully, they're not like certain places elsewhere in Latin American, either.