Santo Domingo Transport

Public Transportation

There are many forms of public transportation in the city. Buses of the OIE (Office of Metropolitan Bus Services) are scheduled city buses. Run on specific routes and schedules, they are a cheaper means of transport than others because they are administered by the government.

There are at least three types of OIE buses, the first without air conditioning, is the cheapest.  It costs RD $5.00 pesos, the second with air conditioning costs twice as much, and the third, called “express” only stops at selected points. Currently circulating buses use biodiesel and is expected to soon move to Natural Gas.

Bus
The starting points are bus stops and they are generally smaller. You are directed by a person who shouts from the door and at the same time acts as collector, you can make a hand signal to get on the bus extending a hand to the face and pointing a finger down. There are no stops, so to get off it you should inform the collector and this will in turn inform the driver to stop driving (regularly giving blows to the body of the vehicle). For its particular form of sometimes being reckless, but fast, some minibuses are known as “flying.”

The so-called “public cars” are basically cars that operate like buses that travel a defined route. They are a little more expensive than the buses of the OIE, but much less than regular taxis. These cars are generally in poor care and can hold a maximum of 6 passengers (two front and four rear-driver).   The price of passage (ticket) is fifteen pesos and you are charged the same amount for some routes while others increase the amount depending on distance.

Motoconchos

Although not as common in Santo Domingo and elsewhere in the country, “motoconchos” are motorcycles that offer a taxi service. Generally the plans are to suspend this type of transport due to its high level of risk, but they remain common in most parts of the city.

Taxis

The radio taxis or taxis, are operating all over the country. There are several taxi companies, offering private transportation services to all who call them by phone. They have no fixed stops or routes and the drivers are almost always willing to cross the entire country if the client needs to be transported anywhere.

Also, many taxi drivers wait while the customer makes purchases in a shop or eat at a restaurant if the customer so desires. For convenience, this mode of public transport is the most expensive of all.
Metro de Santo Domingo
The Metro Santo Domingo is a subway system and consists of five elevated lines. The first line is already in service and has a length of 15km. This line starts at Villa Mella north of the National District (Santo Domingo Center), across Avenida Hermanas Mirabal and continues until Av Maximo Gomez Avenue and Correa and Cidron.  It ends at the Heroes Center.

The Metro Santo Domingo made its inaugural journey on February 27^th 2008, marking a milestone for the country’s history at the level of mass public transportation. It is expected to be rapid and widespread in use and the system is to solve one of the main drawbacks of transport in the city of Santo Domingo.

However, as your first line focuses on just one part of Santo Domingo, it will not solve the problem of chaotic traffic in the city.  This won’t be solved until other lines are built that make up the Metro system Santo Domingo. On January 30^th 2009 Metro de Santo Domingo was open to the general public at a price of 20 pesos per passage.

Airports

Las Americas International Airport – Jose Francisco Pena Gomez
The International Airport of Las Americas, Jose Francisco Pena Gomez, is located in Punta Caucedo, about 5 minutes to the new Multimode Megaports, about 20 minutes from the city of Santo Domingo.  The Las Americas International Airport has two terminals for international flights, domestic flights terminal and a cargo area.

La Isabela Airport – Joaquin Balaguer
La Isabela International Airport, has a modern self-navigation of 4 buildings, an airstrip of 1.650 m in length.   The airport terminal building of 5.424 m² is divided into two levels, for use in commercial areas, Rent-A-Car offices, airlines, security personnel, government offices, the food court and offices administration.

The control tower is 36m high with a modern system of aviation safety with approach lights and runway, VHF communication, and an electrical substation with a unique modular and transfer.  This provides emergency power exclusively to the control tower and the runway lights.  La Isabela Airport also has an aqueduct and a 50% of capacity is reserved for the fire protection system.   Recently completed construction, this airport is designed to replace the old Herrera Airport in Santo Domingo, used primarily for civil aviation and domestic flights.

Ports

The port is located on Multimodal Caucedo Caucedo Peninsula, just east of Las Americas Airport, half an hour from the city of Santo Domingo. The port is part of a modern logistics complex that is planned to be the main seaport of the Dominican Republic and throughout the Caribbean.  The port and container terminal is operated by CSX World Terminals, a company known worldwide for the quality of service and productivity of their terminals.