I'm betting most of these taxi riders who are saying all these negative things about riding the bus have never actually taken the bus from the airport themselves. The innuendos, satire or outright suggestions that riding in a bus is somehow significantly more dangerous than taking a cab just does not jive with the reality. Posting such satire in the NEWBIE section where it can be read by guys who are already fearful of the unknown and might take it seriously is somewhat assinine and thoughtless.
Furthermore, comments like "jammed onto a bus" paint an overly grim image since they are rarely that crowded and certainly no more cramped than most cabs I've been in. Comments about having all your cash stolen or having your luggage stolen if it is placed below has been made by guys who apparently have never taken the bus themselves or at least have never actually done it with luggage. Nearly all the guys who have actually taken the bus and who have posted in this thread, have reported little or no sense of any danger and never any problems bringing their stuff on to the bus.
I also normally only bring carry-on (a large backpack and a smaller daypack to hold my valuables). I've only been asked to put my stuff in the lower compartment ONCE, the compartment wasn't reopened again until we got to the final destination and then I had plenty of time to get off the bus to retrieve my bag before the compartment was unloaded. The bigger issue if you have lots of luggage is not so much security as slinging all that stuff around, rolling it down to the bus stop, hauling it up on the bus, hauling it back off the bus and handling it again when you get the local cab downtown. Personally, I'm not in such bad shape or carry so much stuff that it is worth it to me to pay $8-18 more to be able to handle it less.
Which brings me to this poohpoohing the saving $20 (the equivalent of a full tico MP session) or even just half of that for the Interbus, as being somehow miserly or tightfisted. Believe me I'd be more than happy to spend the extra money for a cab if and when that extra $20 really bought me $20 of VALUE. And if saving $20 is really being so cheap then why do so many around here put so much effort into negotiating a chica down from cien to $80. Saving that same amount by taking the bus is arguably at least as effortless. All it means is carrying your bags a little further and taking an extra 5-10 minutes to get to your hotel.
Besides that, part of the appeal for me goes beyond spending my money wisely. Rubbing elbows with ticos on their PREFERRED mode of transportation IS a cultural immersion. Sure ticos also sometimes take cabs when they have no other choice, but the only ticos YOU'RE going to be able to mix with in YOUR cabs are the drivers themselves, and they're not always the most representative (and they're certainly not as attractive as the young hottie tica I sat next to on my last bus ride into town).
Lets really be fair about this. There are a lot of valid reasons for taking the bus from the airport. Most of the objections some guys have about it are grossly exaggerated. Sure, it is not for every body or advisable in all situations but it does have its place for some. As a guy who has ridden cabs from the airport (and would still take the Interbus) but who also often takes the bus, I can acknowledge certain limitations that I think is valid. If you're a newbie who has never been to CR, or perhaps even to a foreign country, or you're one of those nervous nellies, then "overpaying"
for the ride into town may be worth it. If you have a real ton of luggage or are out of shape and can't deal with having to haul your luggage the 100 yds down the ramp to the street, then having a cabbie taking your stuff at the door to the airport may be worth it. If you're arriving in CR after dark, when riding on a semi-empty urban bus may be a bit scarier or at rush hour when it
MIGHT add as much as 30 minutes if that on to the trip and are willing to pay extra to get to wherever you're going a little faster, it may be worth it. MOST of the time for me, I plan to get to CR as early in the day as possible (to maximize my ground time per hotel night in CR and so I can bust my first nut at a daytime MP) and I bring only carryon so that I don't have to risk the airlines losing or damaging my luggage (doing that alone probably saves as much time as I "lose" by taking the bus), plus I've done it a 1000 times (well not quite but quite a lot) so I know where I need to go to catch the bus and how the whole thing works and what to expect. So taking the bus works well for ME. But it certainly isn't for everybody, so any newbies reading this, judge accordingly for yourselves and your own circumstances and don't believe all the hype one way or the other posted by various guys who each have their own personal biases.
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BTW, Foos, if you stay at Rockin J's in PV, I've read that it is advisable to take a cab to the main part of town when you go out AT NIGHT. Even though it seems close enough to walk (maybe half a mile) it passes through some pretty dark areas and REPORTEDLY there have been SOME muggings along that stretch of road. I don't know how risky it REALLY is. I'm one to normally take greater risks when it comes to stuff like that, but I thought you should know what I've read. You should know that it is not just the SJ area that has problems with crime in CR.
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