Finding a bus route in Rio De Janerio

October 10, 2009 7:06 AM

In Rio De Janeiro having a great time but unable to find a map of the local bus routes. I'm based slightly out of town in Barra da Tijuca and would welcome any advice on direct routes from the beach into Copacabana, Zona Sul and the rest. Apologies, my Google skills fail me and I really don't want to rely on Taxi's for something so simple.
posted by fingerbang to Travel & Transportation around Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (3 answers total)

How's your Portuguese? You can put the street of your nearest bus stop in the "de" box and the street or area you'd like to go to in the "para" box here. The guide says to enter the last word of the street name (Botafogo for Praia de Botafogo).

Or you could watch the bus numbers at that stop, search for the bus number at the same link (in the "numero da linha" box). It's been a while, but it seems to me that some bus stops in Rio had bus numbers and schedules posted? Clicking on a bus line number will show you all the stops going (ida) and returning (volta). The easiest thing to do might be asking people at the bus stop which bus goes to your destination (sabe qual onibus vai para Ipanema?). If you have a pen and paper, they could write the number. Note that Brazilian handwritten 1 can look like a US handwritten 7. Brazilian 7 will have a horizontal line through it.
posted by dmo at 8:41 AM on October 10, 2009

I'm not having any luck with finding a map either.

Google Transit covers point-to-point route planing in Rio
posted by tresbizzare at 8:54 AM on October 10, 2009

Well, according to the site that dmo linked to (which is what I came here to suggest), there are few options. Linha (Line) 524 will get you as far as Botafogo, via Humaitá, which is pretty close to Lagoa, which is just on the other side of Ipanema. Lines 503B and 503C will get you from Botafogo to Leblon. Another bus, line 175 will take you from Barra da Tijuca to Copacabana, which is just north of Arpoador and Ipanema.
Go ahead and memail me if you would like something more specific. Since I don't know where you are in Tijuca, and your familiarity with your surroundings, it's a little harder for me to give advice. Have fun! Rio is awesome.
posted by msali at 11:12 AM on October 10, 2009