The
Buenos Aires subway system is composed of 5 lines, lettered A through E, which add up to 39.5 kilometers of
railways with 67 stations. 434 cars run through it, carrying 258,83 million passengers a year (the numbers are probably way higher now, as these figures are from 1998 and the system is in constant growth).
Since 1994 the system is operated by Metrovías S.A., a private company that also operates a
light rail line (the Premetro line) and a suburban
railroad (
Urquiza Line).
Fares are about U$S 0.70 a trip, with no discount for
round trips or
travel cards (though local school and high school students, policemen, teachers, etc. might apply for a
discount pass). Though you can travel from one point to any other through a
flat fare, it usually involves traveling all the way to the city's
downtown, since that's the meeting point of all lines (the network has a shape very close to a tree). Work is in progress for a new line (lettered H) which will join all others closer to their middle point.
The service runs from 5:00 in the morning to 22:00 at night all days except for Sundays (in which it runs from 8:00 till 22:00), and it's mostly safe inside the wagons, though not necessarily so outside some stations.
All cars stop at every station in each line (no
express services, and only one
route in each line), and though frequencies vary during the day, they average 3 minutes during
rush hours (at which time it's probably a bad idea to take the subway in Buenos Aires anyway, since you'll be crushed by some very stressed
commuters in their characteristic
bad mood).