Commuter
Buy the pass, find your stop, and survive a delay — asking out loud in Spanish.
The word for bus changes more than almost any other in Spanish: el camión in Mexico, el colectivo or el bondi in Argentina, la micro in Chile, la guagua in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Rush hour is la hora pico across Latin America — la hora punta will mark you as having learned from a European textbook. And the question that gets you home is ¿en qué parada me bajo? — which stop do I get off at? — plus el transbordo when you need to change lines.
Below: the ticket, route and delay vocabulary that runs a commute, region by region — and a way to rehearse asking for it out loud, not memorize it from a list.
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Regional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
| English | Mexico | Argentina |
|---|---|---|
| bus | el camión | el bondi |
| metro / subway | el metro | el subte |
| transport card | la tarjeta | la SUBE |
| I missed the bus | ya me dejó el camión | se me escapó el bondi |
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Olivia
Your vocabulary teacher for this pack
There are no flashcards in the Commuter lessons — you learn transit words by using them under mild pressure, the way you will at a ticket window. Olivia puts you at the metro station buying a monthly pass: you ask about zones, prices, and whether there's a discount. Then you're on a bus asking the driver where to get off for your destination, and finally standing on a platform when your connection is delayed — asking ¿hay ruta alterna? and how long the wait is. Say it out loud enough times and the panic of a disrupted commute turns into a conversation you know how to have.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 5 lessons and Commuter is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
Depends where you are: el camión in Mexico, el colectivo or slangy el bondi in Argentina and Uruguay, la micro in Chile, la guagua in Cuba and the DR, el bus in Colombia and Venezuela. El autobús is understood everywhere but sounds bookish in most of Latin America.
¿En qué parada me bajo? — which stop do I get off at? When yours is coming up, Mexicans say me bajo en la siguiente (I get off at the next one). For changing lines, ask about el transbordo — or use the everyday phrase hacer combinación.
La parada is a surface stop — bus or tram. La estación is a bigger hub: train, metro, or a major terminal. Getting them right matters when you ask for directions, because locals will send you to very different places.
¿Cada cuánto pasa? — how often does it come? And before a night out, always check ¿a qué hora es el último tren? In Chile you'd hear ¿a qué hora pasa la última micro? Missing the last connection is the classic commuter mistake — build in buffer time.
Mexicans report it as está parado el metro — the metro is stopped. In Argentina a strike is hay paro de subte. Your next move is asking for la ruta alternativa — in Mexico, simply ¿hay ruta alterna? — or checking for el servicio de autobús sustitutivo, the replacement bus.
