3 countries, 102 hours, 3,850 miles: The Transoceánica is the World’s Longest Bus Route

Taking the bus in the US is generally highly convenient as bus companies such as Greyhound and megabus do their best to create a high level of comfort. Free Wi-Fi on board makes the time pass quickly and additional features, such as the bus-tracker, allow travelers to always be aware of any delays so that the person picking them up at the bus stop does not have to wait for a long time. In Latin America it’s slightly different though, especially if you travel on the Transoceánica: Only a few weeks ago, the connection was opened and is now the world’s longest bus route. The 3,850-mile connection links the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans and allows passengers to travel directly from Rio de Janeiro all the way to the Peruvian capital Lima. The estimated duration of the journey is 102 hours, which equals more than four days.

Up to now, the bus route operated by the company Ormeño used to stop in São Paulo. However, since customers seemed in favour of a true transatlantic connection, the bus company met their wishes and extended the existing connection all the way to Rio. The Transoceánica not only links two oceans, but also two of the most important sights in South America, namely the Cristo in Rio and Machu Picchu in Cusco close to Lima. Four drivers conducted the very first journey, but in the future only two drivers will be employed with one of them having the possibility to retire to a sleeping cabin when not being in charge of the steering wheel. All in all, the bus is equipped with 44 seats and 12 sleeping seats. Two short stops per day are scheduled.

Latin America is proud of the new Transoceánica, even though there are already some problems evident. Initially, the new bus route was supposed to create numerous new jobs but extreme weather has already caused the new road to crack and to burst open. Nevertheless, travelers are happy about the new travel option: A train connection is neither available nor in the works and taking the car or the plane is an expensive alternative compared to taking the bus. After all, the four-day journey from Peru to Brazil costs only about $200.