How to use the ADO buses in Mexico: A Guide
Exploring the streets of Merida (an ADO bus can take your here)
Figuring out how to use transportation in a foreign country can always seem a bit intimidating at first. When thinking of travelling by bus in Mexico and Central America, you likely picture small, packed, hot buses, with chickens running down the aisles and no AC. The ADO in Mexico is anything but that. We’ve put together this guide to the Mexican ADO bus system to help you navigate your way through Mexico in comfort.
First off, ADO buses are generally well priced and incredibly comfortable, and depending on the class level they have at least one bathroom in the back of the bus.
TIMETABLES:
You can search timetables on the ADO website, however it’s only in Spanish. That being said, we only know a few words of Spanish and managed to figure out it, so it can’t be that difficult!
From a drop down menu you pick your origin, the next dropdown is destination and then the date. When the results come up they’ll be listed from earliest to latest buses.
The first column is the departure time, the second column indicates the class level (more about that below), the next section tells you the origin and destination- followed by the price- and lastly, under the red button is the length of travel time (definitely pay attention to this- we always try to look for the least amount of travel time for the best price).
BUYING TICKETS:
IIf you’re using a foreign credit card, you’ll be happy to know that purchasing ADO tickets online is now possible in most cases. This wasn’t always the case, and ADO has improved its payment system over the years. However, their fraud detection can still be a little overzealous, so don’t be surprised if your card is occasionally declined even though it works everywhere else. It seems to vary depending on your bank and credit card issuer.
If your payment goes through online, that’s definitely the easiest option. You can book through the ADO website or app, choose your seats, and simply show up for your trip.
If your payment doesn’t work, don’t panic. Buying your tickets at the station is still a reliable backup, and we’ve personally never had any issues doing this, even during busier travel periods. That said, some popular routes can sell out during holidays and peak travel seasons, so if you’re travelling at those times it’s worth purchasing your tickets as early as possible. The nice thing is that you can buy tickets for future trips from any ADO station, so you don’t necessarily have to wait until the day you travel.
If you’re taking a route with multiple departures throughout the day, you’ll usually be fine purchasing your ticket the same day. Just don’t leave it until the last minute, as ticket lines can sometimes be surprisingly long. Most stations accept both cash and credit cards, although we’ve occasionally come across smaller stations that only accepted cash.
In the past, the ADO app allowed you to reserve seats and pay later at the station, but we’ve found this system to be inconsistent and unreliable. Reservations sometimes disappeared before we arrived, even when we showed up well before departure. Since online payment with foreign cards now works much more often than it used to, we’d recommend either booking online in advance or simply purchasing your ticket at the station if your payment won’t go through.
If you do end up buying your tickets in person and don’t speak much Spanish, one thing we recommend is looking up your preferred departure online beforehand and writing down (or taking a screenshot of) the origin, destination, date, and departure time. It makes the process much quicker at the ticket counter, especially if you’re booking multiple tickets.
CLASS LEVELS:
You’ll want to stick with three class levels of ADO buses to make sure you are travelling in comfort (the second classes buses aren’t as great), all of these types of buses have AC. Look for these symbols when booking:
Bus photos curtosy of ADO.
ADO- this is the regular 1st class service. Very comfortable seats that have quite a bit of recline, one bathroom, and a movie playing on the overhead screens.
ADO GL- this is the next level up, or Deluxe service. The seats offer even more recline, there are separate bathrooms in the back as well as a coffee machine, and movies play overhead but you’ll need headphones to listen.
ADO Platino- These are the highest level of buses. Great if you have any overnight journey, you’ll be in ultimate comfort in these buses. The seats fully recline, and you’ll have your own entertainment system as well.
The lowest level is AU- we’ve never travelled on these buses and honestly don’t intend to as we’ve heard they aren’t particularly comfortable- so we can’t speak from experience.
BOARDING:
It’s always key to get on the correct bus! Normally the bus driver double checks your ticket with a master list as you board the bus. However, once, we boarded only to find someone already in our seat, she didn’t speak a word of English so after a few minutes of complete confusion we discovered she was in fact on the wrong bus, so clearly the driver wasn’t checking that closely.
The front of the bus will always say the final destination, but that’s not always helpful. There’s usually staff members around to ask if you aren’t sure which bus is yours or if it’s arrived yet. It’s definitely more confusing in the bigger stations. We’ve absolutely been those annoying people who continually ask the staff if this is our bus and we’ve never got on the wrong one or missed a bus!
When you do find your bus, there is typically someone loading luggage into the compartment by destination. Often they’ll give you luggage tags but not always. We’ve never had any issues with our luggage underneath but we’d always advise you to keep valuables with you on the bus!
Once on board, find your designated seat (they’ll always be assigned), stow luggage overhead and get comfortable. Once in awhile we’ll hear horror stories of someone have bags stolen on buses. We’ve never had even a minor issue or seen anything remotely concerning. We’re guessing this happens more so on lower class buses that get really packed. That being said, always be aware of what’s going on around you and keep an eye on your things, especially when making stops!
Take the ADO to Tulum to discover this amazing beach.
THINGS TO KNOW:
All prices are listed in Mexican Pesos.
Times are listed in a 24 hours.
Buses tend to be cold, bring layers!
FINAL THOUGHTS:
We are by no means experts of the bus ADO system. But we have used it successfully enough times now to feel very comfortable with it, and therefore decided to write this post in order to pass on our accumulated knowledge and help out as much as we can! Ask us any questions below and we’ll do our best to answer!
