Why Pay to Ride TransMilenio?

A team effort. 

I spent about 20 minutes by the Museo de Oro TransMilenio station this evening, and observed people jumping into the station at a rate of several per minute - and I only observed one side of the station. Repeated at stations across the city, that's a pretty substantial proportion of the station's ridership. 

Nice leap!

Assuming that all these people would otherwise pay fares to ride, the colgados represent a huge loss of income for the troubled system. Most these fare-jumpers looked like they could have afforded paying a few thousand pesos to ride the buses. But jumping thru the doorways is not only cheaper, but also faster and more fun, since it obviates standing in fare lines. The jumpers appeared to wait until their bus approached and then jumped into the station and stepped immediately into the bus, minimizing their chances of being caught by a TransMilenio employee or one of the auxiliar police who sometimes patrol stations. 

As for the paying passengers in the stations - they didn't appear to mind. 

Just made it. 

What could TransMilenio do about this problem? They might repair the station doors so that they close between buses, a fix which would also keep the cold drafts out. 

Or, they could just place fare takers in the doorways.

An athletic move!

The police, more concerned with moving away street vendors, didn't seem to care. 

By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours