I took an Uber from Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport into town, then Express Bus 100 back to the airport. The bus was the more efficient option…
Guide: Bucharest Airport Bus
After arriving in Bucharest, I summoned an Uber because I did not know where to pick up the bus and I assumed that a bus would take much longer. The Uber was 55RON, about 12USD, which was easy enough especially as the sun had gone down.
Interestingly, I received a barrage of text messages from the driver. Upon translating them from Romanian to English, it appeared the driver wanted me to walk past the airport parking lot, down two levels, and exit the airport premises to meet him.
I have no idea about the legality of Uber in Romania, but I presume the request was so that the driver could avoid paying the airport parking/waiting fee (which could have been passed on to me…and maybe it was). Thankfully, I found the driver rather easily using the location of his car on the app.
The 20-minute ride was smooth and without issue.
I had plenty of time when returning to the airport the following afternoon so decided to try to bus. Bus 100 calls at several points throughout Bucharest including a stop just a few blocks from my Old Town hotel.
The bus pulled up precisely on schedule (busses run every 15 minutes) and was well-utilized, but not crowded. At a price of 3RON (0.64USD), it was very cheap…but so was the 12USD for a private ride. However, since we were approaching rush hour I noted 1.) traffic was bad and 2.) the city has dedicated bus lanes.
That proved to be a wise choice, because we made very good time to the airport (the journey can take up to 90 minutes, but took me only 40 minutes.
You can tap inside the bus to pay, though my international credit cards did not work.
CONCLUSION
The airport bus (number 100) is very efficient in Bucharest, even though Uber is also quite cheap.
In short, it made sense to use the bus traveling from the city to OTP Airport during rush hour and probably made sense to use Uber at night.
This is why you shouldn’t wait until age 80 to travel. You might not be able to carry a bag up the bus steps.
It seems you discovered there ain’t nothing wrong with the back of the bus.
Not for $0.64!
Lol.
Interesting that the antiquated mask sign is also in English.
Kiwi Taxi is also competitively priced. They offer a flat rate to and from OTP airport to all Sectors of Bucharest. The service is excellent, reliable and generous. I even got 2 bottled water on the way back to OTP, highly recommend! If you need to cancel, the money goes back to your card, no ifs, ands, or buts.
I used this bus or something like it a long time ago to get into town from the aripper and then walked to the IC hotel there. I took taxis back to the airport.
IIRC, I think the IC hotel was going for 5k points per night and I was able to package it with a business class deal between Canada and BUH.
Interesting that you noted the benefit of the bus lanes. In Stockholm, for example, there are trips of mine that are done faster and more reliably by bus than by taxi/Uber/Bolt because the bus lanes speed up the trip even with all the loading and unloading of passengers at the various bus stops along the way. When I want to get to or from the airport faster, I can do better with the bus + train than with a taxi/Uber/Bolt at times and save some dinero in the process.
Anything is better than taking an Uber.
Generally speaking, public transport in Europe (even Eastern Europe) is a pleasure for a variety of reasons:
1) Many people use it so it’s not only for “poor” crazies. In the states, people sometimes frown down upon you if you use public transportation.
2) Because it’s used often, the schedules are often tight and expansive. In the states, it’s not uncommon for there to be at least 20 minutes between busses making transfers add significant time.
3) Well, manners. Europeans generally speak softly, dress cleaning, and don’t blast radios on a bus or train.
4) Special bus lanes and rail right-of-way saves time.
Even in Los Angeles, I found it was faster to take the metro to get to the opera house than to drive and get stuck in traffic. I bought the cheapest rear seats and stole the seats up front once the doors were closed.
J have Swedish acquaintances in Stockholm who are shocked that I use public transport to get around the place and even to and from the airports at time. Seemed to me like there are people in the country too who frown down upon you if you use public transportation there. Actually, there seems to be even way more judgment about public transport use/users in smaller cities and rural areas in Sweden than there is in Stockholm and NYC.
There have been Express Busses to/from the airport for decades, just not promoted well.
The train isn’t a bad option either. It’s air conditioned, takes 21 minutes with no risk of traffic, and costs just 5.25 RON ($1.14). Only downside is that the frequency is only every 40 minutes, and that it runs to/from București Nord station, which isn’t quite in the city centre.
Accurate description.
One question I have: did you pay the bus driver? Because I know it’s not an option.
I removed that section.
Thx you this is perfect for what I was looking for as I’m also staying near one of these bus stops and our cab was super expensive! But if your credit card didn’t work and you can’t pay the driver cash, how did you pay?
I guess you don’t pay…