Metro Potrero

__

Arriving at Metro Potrero, one easily gets the sense of the potreros, the horse paddocks, on either side of the surface-level station. This is because of the two green areas on either side of Insurgentes Nte. avenue. These almost mask what is in fact a busy bus-transfer station. And they certainly make it one of the more pleasant stations on the line.

The Potrero station logo depicts depicts one of the horses that had been kept in the area’s abundant pasture land until the early 20th century. Most of the horses would have been racing at the Hipodromo de Peralvillo, to the north of the city center. A horseracing track, it operated in the neighborhood now of the same name and east of the station, from 1882 until it was demolished in 1913.

Metro Potrero is something of a locals-only station, serving about 20,000 passengers every day. To the east of the station is the colonia Guadalupe Insurgentes. It’s home to the massive 20th-century Church of the Passion. The former atrium of a much older church is today the Parque de la Pasión, just to the north. The park contains a number of notable remnants from the old atrium.

To the west of the station is the colonia Calputitlan, which is one of the Original Settlements of Gustavo A. Madero. Sadly, this one is nearly entirely subsumed within the City of today.  Calputitlan serves as the southern buffer neighborhood for the massive shopping and commercial area of Lindavista, just to the north.

Metro Potrero is one of the few stations to be truly integrated with the Metrobús stop of the same name. This can be transferred to from the very south of the station.