Cards, guides and applications for getting around during Olympics

Getting around a new city, above all in a foreign country, can leave people disoriented, at least during the first days.

The situation gets more complicated if the visit is happening during a mega event, in this case, the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.

The best way to get around the sporting facilities is an issue that worries everyone, as well as the cost of transport and how to know where the bathrooms, restaurants and other services are once inside the facilities.

According to Rio de Janeiro's mayor's office, the best way to pay for transport is through the multimodal Olympic card known as the RioCard. Cards can be ordered online at the website www. riocard.com/jogosrio2016 but can only be delivered within Brazil.

RioCard. Photo By: rio2016.com

The card can also be bought from July 15 at automatic machines across the city such as inside Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations as well as train and metro stations and top-up machines and specific shops.

The card has unlimited use and will be accepted in every public transport system with a minimum time of 30 minutes between trips on the same form of public transport or on the same bus line.

The card is per person and nontransferable. It will be able to be used during the Olympic Games period (Aug. 5-21) and the Paralympics (Sept. 7-18). Therefore it can be used from Aug. 1 to Sept. 18.

There are three different categories of the card. The one-day RioCard costs 25 reais (around 7.5 U.S. dollars), the three-day costs 70 reais (around 21 U.S. dollars) and the seven-day version costs 160 reais (around 48 U.S. dollars).

The three and seven-days options will be valid for consecutive days from the first use, taking the first validation on a form of transportation as the start of the first day of use. Each day of use finishes at 23:59.

Therefore it is the same if the first use is at 10:00 or 19:00 as in both cases, the day ends at 23:59. However because some events finish at midnight, there will be a grace period of two hours after that to allow spectators to return from the venues.

In order to have access to all the information surrounding public transport, those interested can download the world's most used application, Moovit, accredited as the official app for this service during the Olympic Games.

The application will be available in several languages and will show the best options out of all the bus, BRT, tram network (VLT), trains and metro lines so that people can easily arrive at the desired facility.

With the aim of helping guarantee that the visitors have access to all the information necessary to enjoy the Games, the Organizing Committee launched a guide for each Olympic sport, as well as for the opening and closing ceremonies.

The guides, which can be downloaded from the website www. rio2016.com, will provide the spectators with all information necessary to facilitate their experience in Rio de Janeiro.

The guides include stadium and stand maps, a list of available services in the arenas as well as detailing which objects are allowed and banned in the facilities.

"Whichever stadium they visit, the spectators will be able to use the guides to find the toilets, medical services, information points and the access points for people with disabilities," said the manager for audience experience in the Rio 2016 Committee, Helio Cabral.

The guides are in PDF format, and can be printed or opened directly on smart phones and other devices that allow them to be viewed offline.

Other printed versions of these guides will also be available at around 40 kiosks in Rio during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

（APD）