Navigating Public Transportation in Your City: 7 Tips

By: Rebekah Powell

When living in or traveling to a new city, using the public transportation system becomes a must-do. Using public transit is a much cheaper way of getting around a city. Depending on where you live, you may need to take public transit every day to get to classes. Because of this, it is essential to understand how to navigate your city’s public transportation system. Figuring out how to get around is definitely a learning experience, but once you get the hang of it you could do it in your sleep. Here I’ve compiled a list of some tips and tricks that will hopefully make adapting to the public transportation system in your city a little bit easier.

1. Prepare ahead of time – Get to know the public transit in your hometown/college town before you leave. Having a basic understanding of how metro and bus systems work will make figuring out new public transportation systems a lot easier (especially when it's in a whole different language). Don’t worry if your city doesn’t have a robust transit system. You can always research online how the public transit system works in the city you plan to study in. It is most important to become familiar with how different lines, directions, and modes of transportation work.
2. Google Maps and Apple Maps – The day I discovered the “transit” feature on Google and Apple maps was the day my life changed forever. If you type in your destination and switch the mode of transportation to “transit,” the maps app will show you all the different routes you can take with the tram/bus/metro line numbers/letters and how often they will come around.
3. If your city has its own transit app, download it – some cities around Europe have their own transit apps that contain information about different transit options as well as how to get tickets. CIEE provides public transit passes for the semester, however, I have found this tip helpful when traveling to other cities.
4. Just do it – It may be scary but you really just have to bite the bullet. It will get easier the more you do it.
5. Learn basic phrases in the local language – Learning phrases like “excuse me” “please” and “thank you” will get you a long way, especially when the bus/metro/tram gets crowded.
6. Follow universal public transit etiquette – This includes things like: giving up your seat for the elderly, pregnant women, and those with disabilities, standing on the right side of the escalator and walking on the left at metro stations, letting people out of the bus/metro/tram before you get in, and moving to the center of the bus/metro/tram when getting on.
7. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – You may make some mistakes when figuring out the transportation system. That’s ok! Chances are you will learn from it and not make that same mistake again. Don’t worry if you get on the wrong bus or end up going the wrong way on the tram – it is always fixable (although may take a little more time).

Hopefully these tips will give you a little bit more confidence when navigating your city’s public transportation. The possibilities are endless once you know how to get around your city. I hope you have a great time during your study abroad semester with CIEE and if you are currently applying make sure to use this referral code for $200 off your program! https://my.ciee.org/?rc=e215afac-217f-ed11-9451-005056012053-5-web