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Getting Around Mexico City: Metro, Metrobús, and When to Take an Uber

Getting around Mexico City: the peso-cheap Metro, the Metrobús, the women-only cars, and the honest calculus of when to just take an Uber — all by time of day.

If you want the whole thing mapped out, see the our full Mexico City itinerary, with maps.

Getting around Mexico City sounds daunting — it’s one of the biggest cities on earth — but it’s actually a dream once you know the three tools and when to reach for each. The Metro is almost free. The Metrobús is comfier. Uber is cheap and safe. The whole skill is matching the right one to the time of day and how you’re feeling, and that’s mostly what trips up first-timers. So let me lay it out.

I got this wrong early. Took the Metro at 6pm on a Friday from the centre, got crushed into a carriage so tight I couldn’t reach my own pocket — which, it turns out, was the point, because a friendly stranger reached it for me. Lost some cash, kept my sense of humour. Now I time things better. Here’s how.

The CDMX Metro costs 5 pesos a ride — about a quarter, a price that hasn’t really moved in years and feels like a clerical error. It’s fast, it goes nearly everywhere, and the lines are colour-and-icon coded (each station has a little pictogram, a leftover from when literacy was lower, and honestly it’s a brilliant system). You buy a rechargeable card at any station and tap through.

The catch is the crowds. At rush hour — roughly 7–9am and 6–8pm — the central lines (especially Line 1, 2, 3 around the core) get genuinely sardine-tight, and that’s where pickpocketing happens. Not violent, just opportunistic. So:

Outside rush hour the Metro is fantastic — quick, dirt cheap, and you’ll feel the city’s pulse. Just avoid the crush windows if you can, and you sidestep 90% of the hassle people warn you about.

The Metrobús is a bus rapid-transit system — big articulated buses running in their own dedicated lane, so they don’t sit in traffic. It’s a bit pricier than the Metro (around 6 pesos) but more comfortable, less crushy, and the routes are great for visitors — Line 1 runs the length of Insurgentes, which threads past Roma, Condesa and a load of where you’ll want to be.

It uses the same rechargeable card as the Metro, so just load one card and use it on both. There are women-only sections here too at busy times. For getting between the nice neighbourhoods without descending into a packed underground, the Metrobús is often my pick.

Here’s the honest bit. Uber (and DiDi) in Mexico City is cheap by Western standards, the app tracks the route and fixes the fare so there’s no haggling or meter games, and it’s the safest car option — far better than hailing a random street taxi, which you should genuinely avoid as a visitor.

A cross-town Uber might run 80–150 pesos (a few dollars), which is more than the Metro but still nothing. So the calculus is simple: take an Uber after dark, when it’s raining (and CDMX rains hard in the afternoon), when you’re tired, when you’ve got bags, or when you’re heading somewhere awkward for transit. The peace of mind is worth a couple of dollars. During the day, between central neighbourhoods, the Metro or Metrobús is faster and cheaper.

One tip: have your pin location set precisely and confirm the plate and driver name before getting in, same as anywhere. And note that in heavy afternoon traffic, an Uber can crawl while the Metro flies — so it’s not always the fast choice, just the comfy one.

The bits of the city you’ll spend most time in — Roma, Condesa, the Centro Histórico — are leafy, flat-ish and very walkable. Honestly, within those neighbourhoods, just walk; that’s where the cafés, taquerías and parks are, and you’ll miss them whizzing past in a car. CDMX also has Ecobici, the bike-share, which is lovely on a quiet Sunday morning, especially when they close Paseo de la Reforma to cars for cyclists.

Morning rush: Metro if you must, women’s car, bag in front — or just Uber and skip the crush. Daytime: Metro and Metrobús for distance, walk within neighbourhoods. Afternoon rain: Uber. Evening and night: Uber, full stop, especially solo. Lazy Sunday: Ecobici on the car-free Reforma.

The mistake is treating the city as either “scary, take cars everywhere” or “cheap, take the Metro everywhere.” It’s neither. It’s a city where the right tool changes through the day, and once you feel that rhythm, getting around CDMX is cheap, fast and genuinely enjoyable. Altitude’s the only thing that’ll actually slow you down — give yourself a day to adjust, drink water, take the escalators.

Ride the Metro off-peak for pennies, Metrobús when you want comfort, and Uber the second the sun drops or the sky opens. Match the tool to the hour and the city’s all yours.

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