Transport in Riga

In Riga city there are many different types of transport, so you will arrive easily to your destination. The best ways to move around Riga are:

Train

The main train station in Riga is called Origo... I think that the real name is "Stacijas Laukums" but all the people call the station Origo, because is the name of the shopping center which is located in the same building than the train station. I don't take the train usually so I can't say for sure how much the tickets cost, but I guess it will not be more than 2€ one trip. The frequency of the trains is quite good, they arrive each 20 minuts more or less... but everything depends on what train are you taking, if is a train that goes to a lost village in the end of Latvia... the frequency will be much smaller. The train is one of the best options if you want to do a long trip between the different regions of Latvia.

Trolleybuses

The trolleybuses are buses which are conected to electric cables, I think that this is the only difference between a bus and a trolleybus. The trolleybus allows you to move around the city, but is not usefull if you are thinking on doing a longer trip.

Bus

The bus allows you to move around the city also, and as I said before, is not conected to eletric cables. There are many more bus lines than trolleybus lines in Riga.

Minibus

There are small and more personal buses which take you to more specific places. For example: It's possible to take the Minibus to go to the airport (222), is better than take a normal bus, because is going directly to the destination doing less stops.

Night buses

There are some bus lines working during the night, so don't worry if you live far away from Old Riga and you want to go party, you will manage yourself to arrive home.

Coach

There are coaches available for longer trips. They are always necessary if you want to visit some place on the outskirts of the city. The farthest place from Riga in Latvia takes more or less 4 hours to go, so this buses are more comfortable and they are prepared for long trips (they have toilette). The coach station is before arrive to Origo, just next to the Forum Cinemas. (Here you can find the office that I will mention later).

Bicycle men

Is a different and funny option to find transport during the night in Riga. If you don't live very far but you are tired (or drunk) and you don't want to walk to your house... just call the bicycle men! They will carry you home, in a kind of car with lights driven by a bicycle.

If you are going to live in Riga for a long time, you have the opportunity to get a card called ""Etalons"" that allows you to travel much cheaper. It's possible to get this card in some offices you will find around the city (I know about one which is located next to the bus station). Maybe you will have to wait some minuts to get your card... but really, it's worth. You can choose different rates for your card, for example... you can pay 10 € per month to take only one line of one transport (10€ - only the 27 line of trolleybus); or if you prefer you can pay 16€ and you could take all the transport lines. It's importan to know that the Etalons only works for bus, trolleybus, and night bus, but not for train or Minibus; if you want to take one of them, you will have to pay the ticket separately. If you are not going to take too much buses, with the Etalons card is possible to buy one-way tickets that will cost you only 0, 30 cents.

Where can we buy this one-way tickets with Etalons and where can we recharge the Etalons card montly? --> You can do it in some food shops as Maxima, Narvesen and Rimi.

For all those who don't want to use the Etalons card: You can buy the ticket to the bus driver and it will be 2€ One-way. But you have also the option to buy the tickets before getting on the bus, in some ticket machines located in the bus stops; in this machines the ticket will be a bit cheaper; just 1, 15€ one way.

I give you the web site of Rigas Satiksme, the city transport company, very useful to check all the transport information in Riga.

Now I want to talk about something that I consider important to know if you are going to live in Riga and you want to take the bus or trolleybus frecuently. As I said in a previous post, the population in Latvia is very old. You will notice this in the buses, almost all the people is older than 50 years old. Please students! It's very important to leave your seat free when some elderly is coming into the bus. I know that this is something normal in all the countries, but normally, is an act of cordiality that people do voluntarily, but here in Riga, for what I have observed, is more something obligatory that you have to do without chance. I mean, if you don't leave free your seat because you haven't notice that there is a grandma in the bus, they can become really angry. So please, just leave your seats to them!

The next day I will add information about taxis. They are also a very important transport in Riga and they have a lot of different kinds of taxis. They are also the best option when you go party, you live far, and you don't have night bus or you don't like the bicycle men!

See you in the next post! ;)

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