The Most Storied Metro System? | Buenos Aires Subte Explained

Buenos Aires has one of the world's oldest subway systems, and among Latin America's largest: One that has seen trains from Japan and Spain operate on it! Check out our latest video to learn more about Subte.

Special thanks to @matienlaciudad for providing footage used in this video!

As always, leave a comment down below if you have ideas for our future videos. Like, subscribe, and hit the bell icon so you won't miss my next video!

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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[krotos]

Buenos Aires is a beautiful city.
Saludos desde Buenos Aires.

[MartinIbert]

I think I did not hear you mention it -- "subte" is just short for "subterráneo", which simply means "under ground".

[matienlaciudad]

IT'S FINALLY HEREEEE!! I don't know what else can I say after watching this video evolve from concept to reality. I'm glad I was able to help you out with this one. Hopefully we can collaborate in another future project!

[uchil]

I remember a 90's argentine film called Moebius, about a missing train in the subte system.
One topologist hypothesized that the system has grown so complex, it was actually non-Euclidian. Loved the video, thank you!

[mukundhashok]

Thank you for showing Buenos Aires's beautiful Subte system. I was in BA recently for an exchange trip, and I truly agree that this system is beautiful.

[IvanStepaniuk]

Oh yes, I've waiting for this one for long! Born there, commuted on line C daily and I have to say it's quite a traumatic experience at rush hour. Systemically over-capacity and unreliable, the Subte has been a long time victim of political wars between the national and city governments, often from opposite sides of the political spectrum. The mural art on the Subte is quite remarkable, perhaps worth of a video on its own along such examples around the world. Great work RMTransit!!!

[gonxaa]

The C line gets Tokyo levels of ridership at rush hour, the only thing missing is the company guys pushing people in; sadly this job is left to amateur volunteers (aka other riders).

I agree the suburban railway would make an interesting video, specially the Roca line between Haedo and Temperley, a token line left almost exclusively for people in emergency settlements in Southwest GBA to be able to go to work.

[piensoluegolucho]

Algunas notas:
- Los trenes Le Brugeoise siguen en servicio para tareas de movimiento de otras unidades (no llevan pasajeros, pero sirven a la empresa para llevar cosas del taller de superficie al túnel de la estación primera junta)
- Los fines de semana circulan por un lazo cerrado los viejos tranvías de la ciudad restaurados por la asociación "amigos del tranvía" saliendo del taller de caballito y dando una vuelta pasando por Rivadavia antes de volver
- Exceptuando la linea H, las demás lineas se conectan entre si por medio de vías de servicio
- Debajo del túnel de la linea A, hay un viejo túnel con espacio para un tren de cargas mas pequeño

[thelegend]

I was 100% NOT expecting this collab. Aguante Mati en la ciudad y RMTransit!

[Nico_M.]

Fun fact: the Marunouchi Line rolling stock still have some signs in Japanese.

[PetreDiaz]

Buenos Aires Subte is great. For an old subway that has small connective tunnels and so many changes over the years it is quiet easy to navigate. The old parts of the city it is well connected and most of the touristic parts of the city are very accessible via subway (not counting Caminito and San Telmo). Some of the stations have great art murals painted on the subway tiles. However as in Paris and London it is so annoying to see the trains coming from the “wrong direction” due to the British heritage of the original lines.

[poja]

The original lines retired in 2013 where really a time trip, I loved riding them, but they shaked like they where about to collapse, the problem was that ther where all wood, so very hard to fix without non historical parts. Its sad that they are not there anymore, i feel very privileged for having rode them.

[juanpablo]

One funny detail about the linea E (my favorite one), it was planned on the late 70's to continue forward west near the general paz, (the highway that separates the capital city from the province, which would've massively increased usage and saved lots of commune time for tens of millions of people). The plans were also approved by the government. The only issue? They had, simultaneously, also approved the construction of the 25 de mayo highway connecting the same route on the surface. But neither project knew about the extension or height of the other one, until it was already too late and they realized that the sewer pipes from the highway would be running at exactly the same height as where the subway track would. With a little less incompetence from the dictatorial government, this could've been easily avoided. That is why they had to cancel the construction of the next station (the digging was almost 50% done at this point) and stop at Plaza de los virreyes (where it ends currently), and it will never be able to continue because the sewage system plan prevailed as it was more visible since it was on the surface, and so it would make a better image of this de facto government. That is why, to continue the original plan they had to do the premetro line, a poor attempt in uniting the poor south side of the city using a god forgotten tramway that would absolutely never receive any funds.
Fun premetro tip: Do not absolutely, never, under any circumstance take it. You've been warned.

[chusty]

Loved the video. We argentines tend to complain a lot about our country, as if nothing was right about it. But we need to have a bit of pride and recognize that it's not all that bad. Yes, subte could use A LOT of improvement, but it is nonetheless quite a good metro system

[ignaciotorovillacura]

As a Chilean I wondered if the lack of expansion in Buenos Aires subte is due to the broad and larger bus system and suburban rail that crosses the city. In Santiago the former bus system had so many lines and coverage that many people never used the subway, but when the system was replaced with Transantiago, metro increased its passengers and the oversaturated network needed to be expanded.

[Sibliseidan]

One thing you misses abuot Retiro is that apart of the tree train stations it has a long distance bus station directly to the north of it. And long distance buses are the most used form of long distance public transportation in Argentina.

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Here's some context for some of the names mentioned here: General San Martín is José de San Martín, who's an Argentine regarded as the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru as he was the main leader of the southern and central parts of South America's successful struggle for independence from the Spanish. Belgrano refers to Manuel Belgrano, who not only participated in the struggle for independence as well, but also designed what became the flag of Argentina. Plaza de Mayo was named in honor of the 1810 May Revolution, which sparked the war for independence when the Primera Junta seized the government, ousted the Spanish Viceroy, and launched a series of military expeditions.

A tip for the future: In the Rio de la Plata region (as in not just Argentina but also Uruguay), they pronounce "ll" as "zh" instead of as a y. So Caballito at 4:38 is pronounced "Cabazhito". This pronunciation of ll and y as sh is actually a linguistic phenomenon called yeismo rehilado, which is also common in Uruguay. Why is this a thing in the region? Because of Galician, French, Portuguese, and most importantly, Italian immigration. Loan words like champagne and chef from French for example. And Puerto is pware-to. This isn't just a Rio de la Plata thing, but an all-Spanish thing. Saying Puerto as "porto" is Anglicized

[jbevilaqua]

Great Video. Although Buenos Aires does have a limited metrobus network, it does have one of the most extensive bus network in the world. You can pic virtually any corner and there is a bus combination that will get you there.

[peterjohn]

I love Argentina, I love Buenos Aires and SUBTE is possibly my favorite metro system I've ever used.

[Iobiarg]

Being from Córdoba, the second largest city in Argentina, the Subte is one of the things we envy the most. The amount of time and money the Subte means is crazy. In my city there are only buses, taxis and Cabify. Traffic jams are insane every day. But the government won't invest and take the risk. But Subte should be present in every major city. And Córdoba being so spread in area, needs it even more.