Sistema Integrado de Transporte Optibús
SIT Optibús (officially Sistema Integrado de Transporte Optibús) is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system operating in León, Guanajuato, Mexico. Locally it is known also as "La Oruga" (the caterpillar), due to its use of articulated buses. Most of the Optibús route uses city streets, but with dedicated bus lanes and high-level platform stations. The system was inaugurated on September 27, 2003. León was the first city in Mexico to implement a BRT system. In some respects it is similar to other Latin American BRT systems such as the Mexico City Metrobús, the Guadalajara Macrobús, the Bogotá Transmilenio, the Guatemala City Transmetro, and the Monterrey Transmetro.
| Overview | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Locale | León, Guanajuato | ||
| Transit type | Bus rapid transit | ||
| Number of lines | 5 | ||
| Number of stations | 65 | ||
| Daily ridership | 3,500,000 | ||
| Operation | |||
| Began operation | September 28, 2003 | ||
| Operator(s) | Transportistas Coordinados de León | ||
| Technical | |||
| System length | 40.45 mi (65.10 km) | ||
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León is one of the few cities in Mexico that has a modern, municipally operated bus transit system and utilizes prepaid farecards (known as Pagobús), as opposed to the traditional Mexican pesero system of individual bus owner-operators collecting cash fares. The prepaid farecard system was put in place about four years before the Optibús system.