The Caracas Metro was opened in 1983, initially as a 6.7km link between La Hoyada in the historic centre and the communities that were rapidly expanding to the west. Since then it has grown to serve most of the city and is still expanding, with major new extensions under construction.

If you are visiting Caracas as a tourist, Line 1 is probably the line you will mostly use; Dirección Propatria means you are heading west, while Dirección Palo Verde means you are heading east. For most tourists, the stations of interest lie between Capitolio (for the historic centre) and Miranda (for the Parque del Este). See our ABC of Finding your way around Caracas page for more information about individual stations.

 

The Metro is so cheap that it's practically free but you still have to buy a ticket. You can buy them from the machines in the stations (look for the sign BOLETOS) or from the ticket offices. Our only criticism of this superb system is that many of the machines are out of order at any given time, although there is nearly always one that is working.

There are many combinations of tickets involving the metro and buses but for tourists there is only one recommended option: buy a "multi-abonno" ticket that gives you ten journeys for 4.5BsF. On the Caracas metro, the cost of a journey is the same whether you are just going to the next station or traversing the entire city. There is a small discount for buying a multi-abonno ticket but the real benefit is not having to queue up to buy another ticket.

With an increasing number of people using the Metro, the platforms became overcrowded and a queuing system was introduced. We took the photo on the right at a quiet time to show how it works. The yellow lines on the platform show where the doors will be when the train stops. When you enter the platform area, you join one of the queues. When the train arrives, the queue moves forward until the carriage is full. It's simple and effective because everyone obeys this rule.

At the busiest stations, the yellow lines are arranged so that the queue can fold on itself like an airport check-in queue. The procedure is still the same, though; you join the end of one of the queues and move forward behind the person in front of you. No-one will try to push in front of you.

The Metro is not just an efficient mass-transportation system, it is also a social phenomenon, with posters in trains and stations urging everyone to "be a good user". In addition to the formal rules - no smoking, eating, drinking, dropping litter, loud music, etc - there is the more general rule that you treat all other passengers with courtesy and respect and everyone complies with the letter and the spirit of the rule.

For example, when somebody sitting on a crowded train gets up to leave, it is rare for the nearest person to grab the seat; instead, they will usually look around to see if somebody else needs it more than they do. Priority is always given to the elderly, the disabled, pregnant women and mothers with small children.