Be careful when you take buses in Rio. I've heard numerous stories regarding entire buses being healed up.

Oops - those buses were robbed not healed up.

Yes, the US State Department issued a warning against taking buses in Rio for that very reason.

In my opinion the Buses are safe during the day as long as you stay in the Southern Zone (Copa, Ipanema, Barra...) and have a basic idea of where your going. If your going to downtown areas or to Corcavado then I suggest you take a taxi.

At night ALWAYS take a taxi regardless of where your going.

Here are some buses to various places if you are staying down in "Help" end of Copacabana. You catch all of these buses on Ave Nossa de Senhora Copacabana.

Sugarloaf - located in the Urca so get the Urca bus - 511. If you want you can get the 512 back to Copacabana although it goes thru Jardin Botanico/Leblon & Ipanema before it goes back thru Copacabana so that can take a while. Probably better to get a taxi back or walk back up the street to Rio Sul and get a bus there.

Downtown - you can get almost bus that says Central on it - 121, 125,132, 175, etc. You probably only want to take buses downtown during the day. It also is probably a good idea to take a taxi the first time you go so you know where to get off the bus. If you take the bus & get off in the wrong neighborhood, you could get into big trouble.

Gloria - 571. Termas Rio Antigo is in Gloria. Take a cab first time. 572 will get you home.

Rio Sul - you can take almost any bus. Bus takes a left onto Ave Pricess Isabella then goes thru a big tunnel. Get off immediately after the bus leave the tunnel. Mall is on your right.

Rio Sul: there is a free bus back to Copacabana, it will drop you off at Arcoverde Metro station.

Also coming back from Centro or Gloria, how do you know when to leave bus? While leaving Copa by taking bus on Ave Nossa Senhora de Copacabana, coming back the bus will take one way street Rua Barata Ribeiro after Ave Princess Isabel. Barata Ribeiro is one street parallel to Nossa Copacabana, more inland. It's simple if you don't know keep waiting until you see a tunnel then you know it's time to leave as tunnel will take you to Ipanema, that is unless you want to stop for another run at Centaurus.

I was wondering if any of you guys know how to take the bus from Copacabana to Solarium and how to take the bus from 4x4 to Solarium. Since I will be using the coupons I can't take the free taxi ride there.
Thanks

If you've got a lot of time to figure this out, here's a list.

http://www.rioonibus.com/guia_de_itinerarios/consultas/consulta-todos-numeros.asp

There's a search function, but I couldn't get it to work for me. You need the street names.

http://www.rioonibus.com/guia_de_itinerarios/index.asp

Hmmm,

Seems there is no longer a line 174.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00022FW4U/qid=1147780178/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-1079685-8755928?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130

Anyone out there have a similar link for buses in Sao Paulo? I would love to have it if you do.

Again, you need to at least know the bus street names to get this to work.
As I've still not been to Sampa, it was useless for me, but looks like something that might be useful to others.

http://www.ahw.com.br/onibus/

And this general site....can't tell if this is for all lines or one company or whatever.
Okay, it looks like all the bus lines are under the supervision of SPTrans, if I'm reading it correctly, so this may be the site you want.

http://www.sptrans.com.br/new05/

http://www.sptrans.com.br/consulta/consulta.htm

And here's a site where you can buy a paper schedule.

http://www.lojaabril.com.br/abril/productdetail.asp?CatId=25415&SubCatId=27221&ProductId=286109

Let me know if these are useful for you.

Okay, now this is cool...this Loja Abril site has up-to-date maps...Not tourist maps, REAL maps!!

http://www.lojaabril.com.br/abril/productdetail.asp?CatId=28407&SubCatId=27807&ProductId=1094789

Curitiba ...This one looks easier to use.

http://urbs-web.curitiba.pr.gov.br/

Okay, I just hit the Mother Lode of bus information....Go Here...

http://www.terra.com.br/capa/

Then search for ...... itinerario onibus

I haven´t yet had a chance to explore the links, but thanks alot Ejack1!

This news article showed up on one of the links. Good luck with picking the right bus.
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Guerra Urbana

Quarta, 17 de maio de 2006, 21h19 Atualizada às 22h47
Dois morrem e mais 4 ônibus são incendiados em SP

Últimas de Guerra Urbana

Mais duas mortes foram confirmadas na cidade de Guarulhos, região metropolitana de SP, aproximadamente às 22h desta quarta-feira, segundo a polícia, houve confronto. Entre o final da tarde e o início da noite de hoje, mais quatro ônibus foram atacados na capital paulista, de acordo com o Corpo de Bombeiros.

Dois coletivos foram incendiados às 20 horas, na zona sul, no bairro Alto da Riviera. Três viaturas dos bombeiros atenderam a ocorrência, não houve vítimas. Na zona norte, um coletivo foi incendiado no mesmo horário, na Avenida Jardim Japão, no bairro Jardim Brasil. Os bombeiros enviaram duas viaturas para o local, ninguém se feriu. Na avenida São Miguel, zona leste, um transporte coletivo pegou fogo por volta de 21h.

Now is not the time to travel by bus in Sao Paulo owing to the situation in Sao Paulo which is still a bit uncertain. Usually though I feel quite safe in them in contrast to my feelings about riding a bus in Rio.