Getting around Rio de Janeiro

There are basically 4 ways to get around in Rio de Janeiro; Taxi, Bus, Metro or Vans. You could also rent a car, but this is highly discouraged because of the aggressive traffic in Rio. Driving while drinking is also common here, so using a rented car by night, with the additional danger of being assaulted is a high risk to say the least. Because of assault danger, Brazilian drive through red traffic lights during night, just as a warning.

Taxis:

We all know what taxis are, the type of car with a taximeter which give a price per time unit and km. Taxis are very common in Rio de Janeiro and come around almost all the time at every street of the marvellous city. The common type of taxi are yellow cabs with taxi signs on the roof.

The taximeter fares are R$ 3.30 + R$ 0,9 / km + R$ 0,10 /min at bandeira 1 (basic fare) which is valid from 5h am. to 21 pm. on ordinary days. On holydays, sundays, and between 21 pm. to 5 am. the bandeira 2 (more expensive fare) is 20% more expensive.

The average cost and time of between central points of the districts using the main streets can be found in the table below: (with yellow cabs)

Yellow Taxis Rates:   Santos Dumont Airport International Airport Urca / Pao de Acucar (Sugar loaf) Maracana Cosme Velho / Laranjeiras (Corcovado train) Rodoviaria Novo Rio Centro / Lapa Botafogo Catete / Flamengo Barra de Tijuca Sao Conrado Botanical Garden / Gavea Leblon Ipanema
Copacabana R$ 16 32 11 20 13 19 20 11 15 27 14 13 12 8
  min 18 38 11 24 14 23 24 11 18 35 16 14 14 6
  km 12 28 7 16 9 15 16 7 11 22 10 9 8 4
Ipanema R$ 19 34 13 19 13 18 21 13 17 26 13 11 8  
  min 23 41 14 23 14 21 26 14 21 33 14 11 6  
  km 15 30 9 15 9 14 17 9 13 21 9 7 4  
Leblon R$ 21 40 16 20 13 19 22 13 21 24 11 10    
  min 26 49 18 24 14 23 28 14 26 31 11 9    
  km 17 35 12 16 9 15 18 9 17 20 7 6    
Botanical Garden / Gavea R$ 21 33 13 19 12 18 21 11 18 24 11      
  min 26 40 14 23 13 21 26 11 21 31 11      
  km 17 29 9 15 8 14 17 7 14 20 7      
Sao Conrado R$ 27 38 21 24 18 21 27 18 26 20        
  min 35 46 26 31 21 26 35 21 33 24        
  km 22 33 17 20 14 17 22 14 21 16        
Barra de Tijuca R$ 42 55 37 41 35 39 45 34 41          
  min 58 68 51 57 46 53 62 45 57          
  km 37 50 32 36 30 34 39 29 36          
Catete / Flamengo R$ 9 32 12 15 9 13 8 10            
  min 8 38 13 18 8 14 6 9            
  km 5 28 8 11 5 9 4 6            
Botafogo R$ 14 32 8 18 11 16 14              
  min 16 38 6 21 11 19 16              
  km 10 28 4 14 7 12 10              
Centro / Lapa R$ 9 31 12 15 11 15                
  min 8 37 13 18 11 18                
  km 5 27 8 11 7 11                
Rodoviaria Novo Rio R$ 12 32 19 10 12                  
  min 13 25 23 9 13                  
  km 8 29 15 6 8                  
Cosme Velho / Laranjeiras (Corcovado train) R$ 15 29 13 15                    
  min 18 34 14 18                    
  km 11 25 9 11                    
Maracana R$ 15 22 20                      
  min 18 25 24                      
  km 11 18 16                      
Urca / Pao de Acucar (Sugar loaf) R$ 15 36                        
  min 18 43                        
  km 11 31                        
International Airport R$ 29                          
  min 36                          
  km 24                          

 

Especially notice the price from the Sugar Loaf (Urca) and Corcovado station (The train going up to Christ the Redeemer from Cosme Velho). The taxi drivers will try to take up to triple the real price here. It’s better to just follow the street a bit away from the attraction exit and get a another cab. Always insist on using the taximeter or take another cab!


There are also red, blue and white taxis which are special cabs with better comfort, and a fixed higher price then the yellow one. However with fixed prices the chances of getting cheated is less.

Here are the number for safe special taxis:

Coopertramo: 2560-2022 white taxi
Cootramo: 2560-5442 blue taxi
Transcoopass: 2560-4888 red taxi

Buses:

Getting around Rio by bus is easy. The city is crowded with bus stops, and signs let you know which numbers stop where. One thing Rio de Janeiro is famous for are their fast pacing buses. Several companies compete for making bus stops, so you will experience busses racing side by side in the streets to get to the next bus stop before it's competitors. If a bus loose one stop, it generally paces on to be first at the next stop. This reminds me to mention, be careful crossing streets and in the traffic in general. Rio has it's fair share of accidents. Under is a compiled table of buses helping you to get around in Rio, showing from on the left axis and to on the top one, as a matriz.

Bus Copacabana Ipanema Leblon Gavea Botanical Garden Sao Conrado Barra de Tijuca Catete / Flamengo Botafogo Lapa Centro Rodoviaria Novo Rio Cosme Velho / Laranjeiras (Corcovado train) Maracana Urca / Pao de Acucar (Sugar loaf) International Airport Santos Dumont Airport
Copacabana   570 132 432 570 175 175 569 569   123 126 569       128
    572 512 435 572 177 523 571 571 571 125 127 583 464 511   132
      574 593 584 523   573 573   132 128         415
Ipanema 571   132 432 570 175 175 569 569   123 128 569       128
  573   512 435 572 177 523 571 571 571 125 474 583 464 511   132
      574 593 584 523   573 583   132 485         415
Leblon 511 511   432 512 175 175 571 571   128 128 570       128
  571 571   435 574 177 177 573 573 571 132 172 583 464 511   132
  583 583   593 584 523 523 583 583   172 173 584        
Gavea 571 571 523   170 179 179 158 170 158   170 569        
  583 583 571   176 523 523 176 176 571 170 172 570   512    
  593 593 593   592 524 524 571 592     173 583        
Botanical Garden 571 571 571 170   179 179 176 170 158 170 170 569        
  573 573 573 158   524 524 571 176 571 172 172 570   512    
  583 583 583 410       583 592   179 173 583        
Sao Conrado 523 523 523 523 179   175   179   175            
  177 177 177 524 524   179   524   177 178          
  175 175 175 750     523       179            
Barra de Tijuca 175 175 175 179   179     179   175 233          
  523 523 523 524 524 524     524   179 234          
            750         225            
Catete / Flamengo 570 569 570 170 170 178 175   574 434 170 172 180 434     126
  572 571 584 178 178 179 179   583 571 178 178 569 464     132
  573 573 574 571 571 524 524     572 180   583       497
Botafogo 572 572 512 158 158 179 179 178   434 170 170          
  574 574 569 571 583 524 524 571   571 172 172 570 464 512    
  584 584 574 592 592     583   572 179 173          
Lapa 433 464 434 158 158     158 434                
  464 571 464 410 410     571 571   247            
  572 572 571 571 571       572                
Centro 121 123 128 170 170 175 175   170 247   128 180 238 107 324  
  123 175 132   172 177 179   172     127 422 239   326  
  125 132 172   179 179 225   179     171          
Rodoviaria Novo Rio 126 474 110   170   233   136 362 127   497        
  127 485 128 170 172   234 170 170 497 128   498        
  128   172   173       172   170            
Cosme Velho / Laranjeiras (Corcovado train) 570 570 570 569 569     180   180 180 180          
  584 584 584 583 583     497 583 184 184 406         497
        584 584     498       422          
Maracana 455 456 434           434 238 247            
  456 457 435         434 435 247 249 266          
  457   464             464              
Urca / Pao de Acucar (Sugar loaf)                                  
  512 512 512 511 511           107            
        512 512 512                      

Buses are very cheap, around 1.20 BRL last time I was there, and you can go as far as the bus goes inside of Rio. For intercity travel you get your fare from the Rodoviaria, which is the bus station. The quality of buses are normally very good when going from city to city, soft seats, and you can drop them down to get a nap in between. Allthough most buses have air condition, some don't. Ask when you do your reservation. Be sure to have enough clothing if travelling with air condition, it's easy to catch a cold.

Rodoviária Novo Rio (Main bus station in Rio de Janeiro for interstate travel)
Address: Av. Francisco Bicalho, 1 - Santo Cristo
Tel.: (21) 2291.5151
You will find buses for almost all States in Brazil and also even for countries in South America.

Links to some of the bus operators:
Viação 1001 going Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo and other cities in the Rio de Janeiro State
Útil and Viação Cometa going in country from Rio to Belo Horizonte and several others in State of Rio and Minas Gerais
Itapemirim taking you from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo, Vitória, Salvador, Curitiba and others (capitals)
Águia Branca going north from Rio to Vitória and Salvador
São Geraldo if you're in for a long ride up North from Rio to Recife and other cities in the Northeast
Nossa Senhora da Penha going from Rio de Janeiro to Curitiba, Recife and several other cities in the South and Northeast

 

Metro in Rio de Janeiro:


The Rio de Janeiro Metro system or subway train system is contonously expanded, and currently consist of 2 lines, the north bound (green) and the south bound (yellow). Subway is a safe and cheap way to get around Rio. You pay 2.30 BRL (around 1 US$) and take the line as far as you want. The great advantage to using the subway to get around Rio is no rush traffic. As most other metropols Rio has issues with non moving traffic at certain times a day (8 am - 9am and 5 pm - 7 pm). While the subway is being expanded from Copacabana towards Ipanema, buses act as extensions allowing you to use your metro ticket to go from Siqueira Campos to Ipanema with no extra cost.

Metro in Rio has just added pink wagons on their subway trains, which are for females only. This is done to avoid harrassment.

Link to Rio Metro here

Operating Times for Rio Metro:
Monday to Saturday: from 5 am to 12 pm
Sundays and public holidays: from 7 am to 11 pm

Vans:

If you are headed to Barra or along the coast, an alternative can be to hike with one of the many vans passing by the Avenida Atlantica. They are easy to spot as small mini busses. To get on just stick out your hand and they'll stop. This practise is as of yet not legalized in rio de Janeiro, but nothing is done to stop the activity. Allthough not as safe as a taxi and should be used at own risk. I have used these on several occasions as thay are allot cheaper than a taxi and they come by all the time.

 

Rio Surf Bus:

If you like surfing, or just want to visit some of the more remote beaches of rio de Janeiro, the orange surfbus is great to get around Rio. The bus has racks for surf boards, dvd player and stereo to fill you inn on the latest surfing videos, while taking you all along the east coast from Copacabana, passing Barra, Macumba all the way to Prainha, a beautiful hidden beach with a small beach bar and jungle drop as a background. This is also a very popular surf spot.

The surf bus start doing rounds from 7 am untill 19 at night, with each round trip taking 1h 30 min. Price of tickets are R$3 (US$1.25) each way, which is as cheap as it gets.

Link to Rio Surfbus with maps of route time table and so on.

 

From getting around Rio de Janeiro back to Rio-de-Janeiro.info