The colectivo bus operations of Buenos Aires, Argentina, provide a premium-quality bus service that attracts exceptionally high ridership with virtually no public financial support, and, as a bonus, produces tax revenues. The concept and details of Buenos Aires colectivo—business organization, licensing, regulation, and operation—have direct applicability in any place where potential passenger demand and prevailing wage rates offer the opportunity of profitability without subsidy. In addition, the varied options for introducing entrepreneurship into bus operations illustrated by Buenos Aires colectivo evolution should be of interest in all types of cities at all levels of development and bus-subsidy requirement. Original research into Buenos Aires colectivo introduction, organization, regulation, and market response is presented. The colectivos originally started at much the same time and in much the same configuration as jitneys in the United States, but they evolved into more sophisticated operations, most notably in their resurgence during privatization after a period of state transit operation. In 1992 the 14,000 colectivos of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, run by 230 individual private enterprises as part of a network that also includes trains and subways, provided 1.3 billion vehicle-km (800,000,000 vehicle-mi) of bus service for the year and attracted ridership approaching an average of one bus trip per day for each of the region's 11 million inhabitants.