MIO…is it running now?

Haven't used it - but found this not so long ago:

0 funny, 0 helpful.

I have used it when i need to go down to the South.But i have to take a Taxi from my house down to the MIO station in San Fernando:( The MIO seems to always be packed to the gills.the service is good.i never had to wait long.

http://www.calirentals.net/

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Well, it's good for certain neighborhoods, but it's hell for the rest of the city since the buses had to move off la quinta and find other routes. I live in Centenario, by the way.

Still, unless I want to go to Cosmocentro, which would require a longer walk after the taking the bus, it's actually faster to keep taking the bus. The Mio requires a 12 minute walk from my house and then a however long is the wait for one to arrive, whereas I can get to la primera in 5 minutes where Blanco y Negro 1 takes me past Palmetto, through Limor, past Unicentro, down Cañas Gordas all the way to the universities if I so desire it, and the aggregate time is less. Not to mention, I don't have to change at a Mio station to get to all those places.

For comparison, I left my house at 4:05 and arrived at Unicentro at 4:40 using B&N 1. I left Unicentro at 6:00 and didn't get home until 7 and I had to walk through a shady part of the city after dark.

Now, I think the Mio is a great idea if they get rid of a majority of the buses, triple the amount of Mio buses running, change the lights, and somehow ingrain the concept of don't block the intersection into the brains of Caleños. Three times we were stuck waiting at a light and then got caught at the next light because the idiots here simply fill up the intersection and see it as their birthright to continue crossing for 5 seconds after a red light. Until the Mio is a priority, and that means lengthening every single light along the route and shortening lights along side routes, it will continue to be faster for the majority of the people to take a bus. La quinta has been pretty empty since they closed it to buses, but that doesn't help traffic since you get caught at every light anyway.

Now, the Mio is more comfortable (air conditioning,) and at times, more convenient, but the original point was to improve traffic and make it faster for people to move about the city. So far, it has done neither of those since traffic is more congested in other areas and it's not any faster.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Actually, it's not taken over. They have been very strict in removing anything but the Mio from the lanes. You'll occasionally see a bicycle when there are two lanes, but on that front, it's been fine. Buses sneak onto La Quinta every once in a while, but it's pretty empty otherwise.

One of the biggest problems is they started the Mio without finishing it. That shouldn't have been much of a problem, except they moved ALL of the buses instead of leaving one or two, so if you live in areas where there's no Mio and want to get to places along the Mio route, you have to pay twice or face a long walk. Yes, the Mio is a great idea in theory, but the deployment of it thus far has left a lot to be desired.

Cali also still lacks a decent route linking the east to the west. The only one currently has to pas by the bus terminal, and that's absolute hell especially during rush hours. I can get from the CAM to Alfonso Lopez by taking a bus north to Sameco and then coming all the way back down La 70 in the same amount of time as a bus that goes more or less directly and passes by the air base. That's at 6 am with no traffic. The bus that passes by the base has to make a million ridiculous turns and u-turns to get out to the round about.

0 funny, 0 helpful.