las cosas que no entiendo: tarjeta de SUBE / the things I don't understand: SUBE card

"The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it."

-Mark Twain

I'm clearly living in a foreign place with foreign policies, cultures, and a way of life. I have found myself a few times in the past week thinking "why? this is new, this doesn't make sense to me at all".

Every so often I'll post about things in Argentina society that I just cannot comprehend and by doing so, hopefully be able to explain aspects of Argentinian culture.

For example, my quest to get a SUBE card...

THIS IS A SUBE CARD

 

A SUBE card is a smart card used for pretty much all public transportation in Buenos Aires including the metro, buses, and trains. Instead of having to have change on you all the time to pay for the bus or pay for each individual subway trip, you can charge your SUBE card and use it easily for public transportation. Another incentive of having a SUBE card is that buses in Buenos Aires are double the price without one.

One would think it would be quite simple to obtain and register for a SUBE card...WRONG! I was told by multiple people that all I had to do was go to the post office with my passport, bring 15 pesos, and I would be issued a card on the spot.

So, what did I do? First step, buy a card. I went to the post office (correo)...

where I was told after waiting in line (yes the line did go around the corner)

that they did not have any SUBE cards today. I asked if there was somewhere else I could get one and the gentleman said, "I don't know. Try again tomorrow." Great :)

So, I said to myself, "Ok, if at first I don't succeed, I'll try again". So I went to the correo the next day, where I was once again told to try again the next day,

went again the next day,

when I was FINALLY told that they wouldn't have any for awhile but I could go to the SUBE office to get one.

So I trekked over to the SUBE office at 3:30pm in the afternoon,

and they were closed for the day (they close at 3pm).

So I went again the next day at 2pm, waited in line,

and was told that they could only issue SUBE cards if I was paying with a credit card. Of course I didn't have my credit card on me so they sent me another seven blocks down the road to a place I could buy a SUBE card with cash.

So I went to the next place, waited in line,

and I bought a SUBE card! YAY! Now all I had to do was register my card (which I was told I should do online) and load it with funds. Next I asked them if I could load my SUBE card and was told there machine was broken to charge the cards with funds.

Next step, load my card: After passing a few kiosks with signs saying "No carga SUBE" (pretty much, we can't load SUBE cards right now), I went into the subway station, waited in line and loaded my card. YAY!

Last step, register my card: I went online to the SUBE website to register my card,

and realized that I could only register it online if I was an Argentinian citizen and instead had to go back to the SUBE office to register my card.

Last step, register my card in person: I went back to the SUBE office, waited in line, and registered my card! 

So a few lessons about Argentinian culture through the lens of obtaining a SUBE card:

1) Buenos Aires has a much slower pace of life...people have no problem waiting patiently in long lines and have just come to expect it to get things done

2) When the systems/machines are not working for no apparent reason, it is accepted here without question. For example, when I asked a few people why I could not load my SUBE card at the usual places, they all said "Bienvenidos a Argentina" (welcome to Argentina)

Personal lesson: I'm in a new place and will definitely learn more patience this year :)

For now, I'm going to celebrate my "little win" of finally getting a SUBE card!