tram - Obscure Journey

Shopping trip failure - vlog-

Publié le 20 Août 2017 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #adventures, #bucharest, #commuting, #life experience, #public transportation, #shopping, #tram

So, as mentioned in last Sunday's entry, today I will post a vlog video, with a little explanation.

I think YouTube is messing up the audio of the videos. So, if you don't hear well, blame both the beginner me and YouTube. You get to see glimpses of Bucharest that you don't usually see in travel blogs and magazines, along with random Romanians going about their way. yay?

As I'm trying to explain in this video, my friend ordered a product online, and she was supposed to go pick it up. I went along and recorded the adventure. It took us some 45 minutes to the [mini]mall where the place [called eMag] was. We were told to wait in line, and after some half an hour they said their server crashed O.O and that it would probably last some 45 minutes to fix it.

And so we waited, as we hoped it would be true. So we tried out this café place with a really nice view. I had a sandwich as I was starving - and it was pretty good. Don't ask about its name as I forgot it and I don't even remember seeing it posted anywhere.

My friend went back to the store - we then realized it was a showroom only, and the server worked for some 5 to 20 minutes and crashed again. Some 20 minutes before closing time! (at 9pm - most other stores close at 10 pm) We still stayed, as we weren't the only people needing to pay for stuff. Of course we waited in vain.

The video ends with me complaining about their customer service and just how generally uncool this [mini]mall was. They were supposed to call her the next day, but didn't. As expected.

While this shopping trip seemed like a failure, it was actually a disguised blessing. Some days later we found the product she wanted at another store and the full price wasn't even the one eMag mentioned! They said they were selling it for 50% off - full price being some 190 Lei? The store we found was selling it for just 120 Lei full price [tax included, as in Romania the prices shown on the shelf includes the sales tax].

My friend ended with getting another similar product that was on sale, from the second store. Happy ending!

What I didn't mention in the video was that while we were waiting in line the first time around, we decided to get a mouse as well - it was pretty cheap. Except the guy told me I would have to go back the next day or the day after to pay and pick it up: they didn't have it in stock!

You can now buy merch inspired by this experience, from here. There are more types of items available, not just the tote bag I made as default.

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Using the public transportation in Bucharest

Publié le 10 Septembre 2013 par Charly Cross

Catégories : #advice, #bucharest, #buses, #commuting, #public transportation, #subway, #tram

Bucharest has a very goo public transportation system, this allowing you to reach any area you're curious about, with ease. There are many more bus routes compared to the routes of the trolleybuses, trams, and subway. They'll usually leave you right next to your destination or within walking distance.

So the easiest way of reaching Downtown is by public transportation and while I read that some countries have some bus routes free of charge, this is not the case in Bucharest. In fact ticket inspectors come to check your ticket quite often. The fare for one way, is 1.3 lei for the above the ground routes, no matter how far you go... I guess this is about some US .50 cents? If you're caught without a ticket, you must pay 50 lei (about 11USD).

most commonly seen tram

Speaking of tickets, we don't use those anymore. Instead we have some cards that can be loaded with either trips, monthly passes, a combination of the two, or a certain amount of money (not more than 15 lei). They're the size of a regular bank card. To recharge, you need to find an open "ticket" booth - all of them accept cash in lei. Only some of them accept credit or debit cards. Below is a closed bus ticket booth near my [uptown] place - it used to close at 2PM and it's not opened on weekends.

Using the public transportation in Bucharest

Let's be clear, a charged card doesn't mean you paid your fare for the trip, unless you have a monthly pass. You're supposed to pay for your fare as soon you get on the [trolley]bus or tram. All the public transportation vehicles have some orange machines like the one below and all you have to do is put the card as close as possible to its front and dark circle. A green light and a BEEP will tell you you've been successful. A really loud and long BEEP with a red light will tell you an error occurred and you have to try again. Multiple charges are not possible by default, but you can pay the fare for others that are with you. This is done by pressing the button labeled 2 for as many times as possible.

from instagram: 2nd pic by @eduardintaiul [that's not the bus card]. 3rd pic by @nr137. 4th pic by @dracon1312.

from instagram: 2nd pic by @eduardintaiul [that's not the bus card]. 3rd pic by @nr137. 4th pic by @dracon1312.

As you can see, there is a screen too where various messages are displayed in Romanian. If you were successful in paying for your trip, you should be shown how much money is left on the card - sometimes the message is too fast. Sometimes, error messages are shown, like in the 3rd picture above and this usually means you can't even attempt to pay for your trip.

It seems RATB [the company operating the public transportation above the ground] likes to repair their machines with tape. They still work though.

We used to have this type of tickets. pic by @alexandrapoate on instagram.

If you go out late in the evening, you might risk not having a ride back. However, we have a few night buses go all over the city every 30 minutes, but not between 1 and 3am. The fare to ride them is the same as for the day routes. Make sure you get in the correct bus: the N123 bus for instance will not go to the same place as the daytime123 bus!

creepy old tram seen at night. used for maintenance.

This article was edited on Feb 16th, 2018, but originally posted on September 10th, 2013.

Very old tram by @transportcivilizatro on instagram

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