SIT Optibús (officially ''Sistema Integrado de Transporte Optibús'') is a
bus rapid transit (BRT) system operating in
León, Guanajuato
León (), officially León de Los Aldama, is the most populous city and municipal seat of the municipality of León in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. In the 2020 census, INEGI reported 1,579,803 people living in the city of León and 1,721,21 ...
,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
. Locally it is known also as "''La Oruga''" (the caterpillar), due to its use of
articulated bus
An articulated bus, also referred to as a slinky bus, bendy bus, tandem bus, vestibule bus, stretch bus, or an accordion bus, is an articulated vehicle, typically a motor bus or trolleybus, used in public transportation. It is usually a ...
es.
History
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 and cost a total of 1,405,700,000
pesos to implement.
León was the first city in Mexico to implement a BRT system.
The system is part of the integrated transit network for León and utilizes
prepaid farecards (known as ''
Pagobús''), which can be used for every other bus route as well.
In 2016, 58 Torino OH 1624/59 buses by
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...
were acquired for the system.
In 2019 and 2020, an app to improve the service was being planned, along with a purchase of 1,000 new buses, gates, and installing Wi-Fi and security cameras in each bus.
Statistics
The Optibus accounts for 85% of trips taken on public transportation in León.
Daily ridership is around 120,000.
There were 17,200,123 riders in August 2024.
According to a 2024 study by the Mario Molina Center, León's public transportation system in ranked ninth place out of 32 systems in Mexico.
Further reading
*
External links
Official Optibús Web Site (Spanish)
References
Bus companies of Mexico
Bus rapid transit in Mexico
2003 establishments in Mexico
León, Guanajuato
Transport companies established in 2003
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