Bus Stations at Midnight: A Field Guide for Women Traveling Alone

This is a moment in long-haul solo travel that happens regularly and in many different contexts. In this scenario, the traveler has just arrived in a new city. There is time to have a first impression of the town before making your way to the hostel for the night. The hostel, however, is a long distance from the bus station and in all likelihood there will be a wait for a taxi.

These experiences and many more have all happened to me while traveling solo for long-haul periods of time over the past decade. The situations have ranged from non-descript to truly horrible. But none were actually life-threatening or changed the trajectory of my travels (for the worse, at least). But perhaps the reason that none of these experiences were ‘terrible’ is because of the simple set of processes I follow as a solo traveler that help to prevent unwanted situations from occurring in the first place. I thought I’d outline a few here.

Arrive prepared, not just packed

Four simple things to remember to do before stepping off the bus:

Make a note of where your accommodation is on your phone’s map with the route from the bus station to your hotel loaded beforehand so that you don’t have to find the hotel on your phone without data once you’re on the road. Having small change in local currency, spread out over easily accessible pockets is handy in these situations. Large notes are magnets for attention from taxi drivers at taxi stands and from counter staff in bus stations. I wear my daypack in front of me from the time I step off the bus, rather than putting it on my back. When researching local taxi prices make sure you have a rough idea of what they cost to travel to your accommodation, this will help to save you from being ripped off by taxi drivers. A good rule of thumb is that if a taxi driver quotes you a price that is three times the normal price to travel to your accommodation then it’s best to walk away and look for an alternative mode of transport.

The first 60 seconds off the bus

Step off the bus, pull to the side of the platform and pause for a minute or so. First of all you will likely see where other travelers are going. You will be able to see clearly which exit is for where your hostel is and get ready to head off in the right direction. Often people will be lingering near the spot where the bus pulls in to try and get the attention of incoming tourists. These people are easiest to avoid by leaving the platform as soon as you step off the bus and making your way to where the other travelers are headed.

This 60 seconds gives you something that most travelers overlook: orientation. In the first minute or so after stepping off the bus, you get to see where the bus station is, get an idea of the layout of the place, see which of the apparently identical-looking kiosks are staffed and which are not, and get a feeling for whether you can expect to find official taxi ranks or whether you will have to negotiate with individual drivers on the street.

The two-question screen for taxi drivers

If you are taking a taxi ask at the taxi stand the following two questions before entering the car: 1) How much to the destination? 2) Does he use a meter or a fixed price for the trip?

How much to the destination? Is it a fixed price or will it be running on a meter?

If the taxi is a ‘flat rate’ then work out what 50% more than the price you found online would be. Quote this to the guy and if he agrees then you’ve done well. If he says no then walk off and find someone else. I’ve found that arriving a day early has saved me having to find a last minute connection on two occasions.

For metered cabs, always ensure the meter is on prior to departure. The meter is the traveler’s best friend when it comes to fair fare and the starting of the meter is usually the traveler’s best defense against being overcharged by a cynical cabbie.

The rideshare alternative

For late night arrivals in cities where you can get a ride with a rideshare app, such as Uber or Lyft, it is safer to take a ride with them rather than hop in a taxi with a meter. You can track the ride, where the driver is going, and the fare all along. You can even share your ride with someone at home to keep them in the loop. Also, drivers know that you can rate them when you arrive at your destination.

Note, that there is usually a surge price for rideshare services late at night – it might be even twice as expensive as normal fare. I do have this in my budget though and I’m more than willing to pay for extra safety provided by a app tracking the driver, the way to your destination and the fare.

If the bus station is in a sketchy area of town.

Some inter-city bus terminals are in industrial outskirts or in neighborhoods that are fine during the day but in which you might feel uncomfortable at night.

If possible, try to stay within the bus station itself until your bus or transport departs. Many bus stations have a 24 hour waiting area. Walk into a 24 hour cafe or fast food outlet near the bus terminal and wait there for your bus to arrive. The staff at the bus terminal should be able to call a taxi for you. Find out if the terminal staff have a direct line to any taxi drivers that service the terminal. Get help from station staff to call a taxi. In many cases they will have a special phone line for known drivers who regularly service the station. Don’t take a risk and go through some unlit streets. Wait until you have safely boarded your bus or got into your taxi.

Trust your gut, then verify

The biggest piece of advice that I would give is to pay attention to your intuition to determine if a situation feels unsafe. If you have paid attention to your intuition and believe a situation is unsafe then determine one thing that makes you believe that the situation is unsafe and verify that piece of information.

Don’t fall for too good to be true offers eg. for intercity bus tickets someone approaches you saying he can get you a ticket to your destination at a really low price when you know that the official ticket stand is just nearby. Only verify one small detail – in this case that the person is not at the official stand in the first place. If he isn’t then walk away.

The driver is going the wrong way on the road: I have this happen to me when I am on the road with them for 10 minutes or so (the way that the driver is traveling is not indicated on the map). Verify that this is the case and then ask him or her to explain. If he or she are evasive then ask them to pull over the vehicle as soon as it is safe to do so. On my last trip I ended up having to pull over on account of the driver’s getting lost. The above is what I really do, not some hypothetical for how I would behave.

This is situational awareness in action: instinct plus one piece of confirmation evidence. It is always faster than trying to make a rational decision and far more reliable than relying solely on instinct.

What to do if you feel unsafe

Have a plan worked out beforehand for unsafe situations. My plan for unsafe situations that I refined over years for solo woman traveling is as follows:

Move to a well-lit, populated location. Find a staff member, whether it is uniformed or not, or better yet a woman with children (these are the best types of bystanders in most cultures). Dial your local emergency number (save in phone beforehand). Call my emergency contact at home and stay on the line with them while I sort myself out. Get yourself to another accommodation. Verified taxi, or verified rideshare to another accommodation even if it’s not where you’d booked.

I have used this plan for 2 instances where I have been traveling solo as a female late at night. In both cases, using this plan worked a treat for me and had things gone wrong for me, I would have been much worse off without having planned ahead.

The honest framing

Most bus stations at midnight are quite safe and most solo women travelers complete their many late hour solo travels without incident. The situation and strategies outlined in this post do pose a risk – albeit a very small one – which can be lessened by following the strategies outlined here.

The bigger risk is not traveling at all because of fear. And once you stop to think about it, there is nothing quite like traveling solo to bring about great growth, and a lot of hard-won self knowledge. So be careful, be prepared and then go!