Urban Transportation
Transportation in Puerto Rico is heavily dependent on automobile transportation. Nevertheless, the government has increased investment in public transportation in an attempt to decrease vehicle dependency and road congestion. The island's metro area is serviced with three major public transportation systems:
- The 10.7 mile (17.2 km) metro system called "Tren Urbano" with a total of 16 stations. The project, which began operations in late 2004 cost a total of $2.25 billion and was more than $1 billion over budget and four years late. However, the "subsidized" Tren Urbano has received far less ridership than was originally projected and has failed to make a significant impact on reducing the island's metropolitan area traffic.
- A daily ferry service known as the Cataño Ferry, (La Lancha de Cataño in Spanish) which operates a route across San Juan Bay between Old San Juan and the municipality of Cataño.
- Metropolitan Bus Authority (Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses or AMA in Spanish) provides daily bus transportation to residents of San Juan, Guaynabo, Bayamón, Trujillo Alto, Cataño, and Carolina through 30 different routes. Its fleet consists of 277 regular buses and 35 buses for handicapped persons, and its ridership is estimated at 112,000 on work days.
Most cities and towns also have a Jitney-type taxi system locally called Carros Públicos. Each town has a central taxi terminal usually within walking distance of the town's central plaza where taxis are stationed, and they provide transportation through local and islandwide routes.
Read more about this topic: Transportation In Puerto Rico
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