A Bus Ticket Is Not Enough

The bus terminal of Guayaquil is much like an airport, with three storeys, shops and a boarding pass system that gave me trouble. I found my way to the boleterias to buy my ticket and had no problems there, though the boletero told me to hurry as the bus to Salinas was soon to leave.

Thinking that one of the two pieces of paper that was given to me was only a receipt, I binned it and proceeded to the platform on the top level. Unfortunately, the "receipt" turned out to be my boarding ticket and the woman at the gates said I had to return to the boleteria and get another.

Honestly, why doesn't simply having a bus ticket grant me access to the bus? What is so wrong with flashing your ticket to the driver at the bus door? Do we really have to clog things with extra useless procedural steps? Sheesh.

Irritated, I hurried back down to the boleteria and the boletero looked at me with a " What the hell are you doing back here? The bus is leaving!!" I cursed my poor Spanish for if I had known how to grumble and complain, I would have. Instead, I stammered something apologetically about losing my other ticket. Pathetic. I hated myself. He issued me another and again I hurried back up.

Of course, by then the bus had left. I muttered under my breath at the system. I knew that there would be another bus in 30mins, but that was just my issue with it. For such frequent a bus, why dumb down the works with bullshit like that? I wondered if I needed to go back and be reissued another ticket but knew that visiting the boletero three times in ten minutes would not do either of us well.

So I waited for the next bus to pull up, and thanks to the inattentive driver, I was able to sneak onboard and take a seat near the back that I hoped wasn't already allocated.