"Tutorial: How to Take the Bus to School in Amman!" by Charlie Perricelli
This past year, Amman rolled out its new bus system on a large scale throughout the city. Before, students going to Amideast usually had to take Uber to school, but now, students have the option to take the bus if your host family lives near a bus stop. To make things even easier, Amideast has a bus stop right outside the school! The bus is super clean, and because it has special lanes isolated from traffic, it also is often faster than taking a normal car ride to school during rush hour. In this blog post, I will walk through how to ride the bus in Amman.
Step 1: Download app to see potential routes
If there is a bus station nearby your homestay house, download the app for the bus when you want to find a potential route for yourself. The app is called “Vision City Bus”, and it can be found in the app store. Once you enter the app, the two most useful tools I use are “Trip Planner” to see nearby bus stations and bus card machines, and “Routes” to see where each bus line travels along (Amideast is on the 99 bus line). Most likely, you will need to transfer buses to get where you need to go, but there is usually no additional cost.
Step 2: Purchase/load your bus card
You will have two options for paying for the bus. Option one (what I do) is I have a bus card that I purchased from a major bus terminal (there are several), and that I refill at kiosks at these big bus stations. Buy the card from the agent in the window, and to refill, use the kiosk next to the agent window. To use the kiosk, place the bus card on the touchless pad. The screen should display the balance on the card once you do. Then, insert cash into the machine. As you do this, the shown value of the card on the screen should increase. After the value of your card is where you want it, all you need to do is take the card and walk away. Option two is to input your credit card directly into the app and manage a virtual card that utilizes a QR code that you scan on buses as effectively a bus card on your phone.
Step 3: How to enter the bus
Bus stations are marked by a sign and covered bench. Be aware, sometimes these bus stations are in the middle of the street because of the location of the bus-only lanes, and you may need to jaywalk to get there. Once at the stop, you can see when the next bus is supposed to arrive by opening the app and going into routes, then selecting the route you are on, and then selecting the station you are at (remember to make sure you are looking at the buses going in the correct direction). When the bus arrives, step on and hold your bus card against the pad until it beeps. The process is identical as to if you were paying for something with Apple Pay, just using your bus card. If you are using the QR code option, hold up the code to the scanner and it should work just the same.
Step 4: How to exit the bus
When your bus stop is approaching and is the next stop, push the stop request button, which is located on the rails that standing riders hold. It is also a good idea, especially if the bus is not crowded or you are not riding at peak hours, to go and stand by the exit door (the back door) at the time between the stop before your stop and your stop to remind the driver to stop in case he forgot that you requested the stop. Then, exit the bus and walk to your destination!
For me, the bus system in Amman was definitely a little bit disorienting at first, especially the major stations with many bus lines. However, once I got the hang of it, it opened so many doors for my exploration of Amman and gave me a great sense of accomplishment. If you come to Amman, I hope you are successful using the bus as well!
Charlie Perricelli is a student at Villanova University and is studying abroad on the Amideast Intensive Arabic Program in Jordan this Summer, 2024.
