Today Friday January 6th 2012 the rates for the Subte (subway train in Buenos Aires) were raised by 125% from $1,10 Pesos (approx. 25 cents) to $2,50 Pesos (approx. 75 cents). After a long day of touring the city and visiting the Museum of Fine Arts we rode the bus back to the hotel and I turned on the television. Within the first 5 minutes I turned on the news and there was a lot of discussion about the price of the Subte. They interviewed several people and the majority disagreed with the change in price, one of them called it 'ridiculuos" and promoted for people to protest the change. On the other hand, there was one interviewee who said that this change shouldn't be a surprise to the people since food, gas, and other comodities have been increasing in the past year.
The Subte has 6 lines (A,B,C,D,E,F) with 78 stations through out Buenos Aires and it is used by millions of people everyday (See below).
Yesterday, Our tourist guide told us during the tour of Buenos Aires that for many years there have been subsidies for the Subtepass users which is the majority of the people who live in Buenos Aires and that starting today those subsidies would not exist any longer. My roomate and I went made sure we bought our Subtepass yesterday so we can get it for $1,10 pesos instead of paying the higher price today. There were 2 lines in the station we went to get the Subtepass and each line had at least 30 people waiting to buy their Subtepass so they can get it for cheaper. This went to show important the Subte is to the people of Buenos Aires to get around the city.
Currently, Argentina happens to be one of the most thriving economies in the Latin America and in the last five years their inflation rates have fluctuated. According to tradingeconomies.com the inflation rate in Argentina was last reported at 9.5 percent in November of 2011.
For more information visit: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/argentina/inflation-cpi
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