A fleet of about 7,500 minibuses transports 332,000 passengers in Cape Town every day. In March, the minibus associations decided to strike as a protest against the government’s impounding of illegal vehicles and the soon-to-open MyCiti BRT system. A number of the 6,300 taxi owners opposed the two-day strike (the Mitchells Plain Taxi Forum did not participate), but for the most part, owners followed the directives of the powerful taxi associations. Violence during the strike supported Deputy Transport Minister Jeremy Cronin’s assessment that the industry is “riddled with warlordism.”
Strike-supporters stoned dozens Golden Arrow buses (which are heavily subsidized and, when the minibuses are running, often nearly empty), forcing them to unload on the N2 freeway instead of entering Nyanga and Khayelitsha. Strikers also attacked school transport, injuring special needs students. Thousands of school children who rely on minibuses for their trip to school were stranded. At Trafalgar Secondary, 60% of students were absent during the first day of the strike. The Cape Times went on to report:
“In addition to these and many other incidents of violence, there has been massive intimidation of the bulk of the industry who are opposing the strike,” [MEC Transport] Carlisle said. “As we speak, pro-strike elements are moving into Mitchells Plain where taxis are still operating. There can be no question that their intentions are violent.”
I stayed clear of the bricks and rubber bullets and snapped a couple pictures of some empty taxi ranks, comparing them with similar shots on a normal day:
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Read Full Post | May 24 2011 | School Bus Migrations and Transport | 1 Comment » |
I only had an eleven hour layover in Dubai, but I was intent on seeing as much of this urban spectacle as I could. I was able to take advantage of the Emirates stopover program (something convenient the government can do when it owns the airline, airport, hotel, public transit system, etc.). I rode the sleek, automated Dubai Metro from the Airport to Union Station and was able to see with my own eyes the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
The lack of pedestrian accessibility was striking. Walking the quarter-mile between the airport terminal and my hotel was absolutely impossible owing to the labyrinth of highways and ramps separating the two; instead, a looping, roundabout fifteen minute drive was required. I enjoyed this ride, as it took my by the Roads and Transport Agency headquarters and one of the emirate’s many school buses. With such poor pedestrian accessibility, it’s no surprise that the majority of Dubai’s students take the bus to school:
According to the Ministry of Education, approximately 62 per cent of students in Dubai travel to school by bus – which means every day, there are around 250,000 students on the roads during peak times. – From “School bus news in Dubai, “which has an interesting discussion about school bus safety regulations
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Read Full Post | March 30 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |
In the forty days I spent in Panama, I rode a total of sixty different vehicles. Forty-three of these vehicles were diablos rojos (former school buses). I spent almost 24 hours on diablos rojos, riding a total of 411 miles in Panama. The average length of trip I took on these buses was 32 minutes (quite short, given that the average one-way commute time for residents of Panama City is about 70 minutes). In terms of bus bodies, almost all were conventional-style buses, and about half of them were Thomas Built Buses, half were Blue Bird, and one was a Ward Volunteer. Most of the buses had manual transmissions (even the ones that were originally manufactured with automatics). One of the buses I rode down the Transistmica had a female driver, a first for my trip.… Read the rest
Read Full Post | March 19 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |
(English Translation Below)
Cuando yo caminaba por Panamá Viejo, yo ví un hombre lavando su bus. Decidí a saludarle y decirle lo de mi proyecto. Luís era muy amable, dandome mucha información sobre el 1987 Blue Bird/International antiguo bus escolar de su padre, y me invitó a acompañarle y el chofer del bus, Edwin, el día sigiuente.
El día sigiuente, me reuní con ellos en frente de los barberías de la Plaza 5 de Mayo a las 8:00. Eso fue la segunda vez que habían pasado la parada, despues de empezar sus vueltas de Panamá Viejo a las 5:40. Yo abordé a y disfruté el día andando por Avenida Balboa en su ruta para Panamá Viejo (mira la linea roja en el mapa que yo hice).
8:05 – Luís and Edwin les digan a los pasajeros quienes quieren viajar a La Terminal de Albrook que desembarquen y cambien buses. Aunque buses de Panamá Viejo usualmente van para la Terminal, entonces se vuelvan y regresan por El Chorrillo, Edwin a menudo no va a la Terminal en las mañanas porque no hay bastante pasajeros allá.
8:10 – Edwin para el bus en el lado de la puente de Avenida 3 de Noviembre a Avenida de los Mártires. El orina en la llanta y un hombre con muletas aborda. Él llama pasajeros al bus en las paradas de Ancón, y Luís le da unos cuartos por la ayuda.
8:25 – Estamos esperando mas pasajeros en El Chorrillo. Álguien pregunta “¿Esperan cuanto para salir de aquí?” Edwin le contesta que vamos a salir cuando un otro bus viene. El otro ya viene, y salimos por las calles angostas para Calle 12.
8:35 – Estamos en Avenida Balboa/La Cinta Costera otra vez. Todos los asientos están occupados, y ocho personas estan parados.
8:45 – Luís pregunta, “¿Nádie para abajo del puente?” Nádie contesta, y por eso, evitamos el tranque caminando por el Puente Via Israel.
8:55 – Entramos el barrio Panamá Viejo, pasando por una area residencial por primera vez.
9:20 – Todos los pasajeros desembarcan en la ultima parada en Vía España. Edwin sale del bus para comprar sus boletos to rotulo. Mientras Edwin está comprando sus boletos, Luís y yo hablamos sobre la transformación de los buses viejos. Me dice que muchos turistas quien abordan su bus no saben que estuvo un bus escolar en EEUU. Edwin regresa, molestado porque no tenían El Chance.
9:30 – Luís les dice “No voy” a los que quieren abordar. Continuamos conversando sobre el reusar de los buses cuando manejamos para Panamá Viejo. Comprando en la subasta, los dueños panameños puenden comprar un bus usado por $4,000. Ellos cambian los cambios de automáticos para palancas, los que piensan son mas durables. Luís y Edwin felicitan la durabilidad de los diablos rojos y critican los buses con aire acondicionado, como los nuevos de Hyundai y Daewoo. Prefieren chassis de International para las máquinas, y para los buses, a Luís le gusta los de Thomas (mas de Blue Bird), porque son mejor para modificar con pintura.… Read the rest
Read Full Post | March 11 2011 | School Bus Migrations | 1 Comment » |
Edwin invited me to travel out to Abdiel’s Garage to fix the transmission of the Pinky and the Brain bus. Though it came from the US with an automatic transmission, the bus was outfitted with a manual transmission, which was now spontaneously shifting out of fourth gear into neutral. A young Nicaraguan mechanic was able to successfully rebuild the transmissions of a couple of different buses. Abdiel, the owner of the garage and the mechanic’s boss, enjoyed joking around and giving people a hard time. Listening to his banter, waiting around for him to pick up needed parts, having lunch, chatting with other bus owners, and translating bits of School Transportation News articles for them made the long, drizzly afternoon enjoyable.
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Read Full Post | March 11 2011 | School Bus Migrations | 1 Comment » |
One of my favorite places in Panama City was the Albrook Bus Terminal. Hundreds of diablos rojos pull into the thousand-foot-long local bus platform, and the pedestrian bridge from the Terminal to the adjacent Albrook Mall was an excellent spot from which to observe the buses. Almost all of these local buses are Type C former school buses. The breakdown of chassis manufacturers is, by my estimate, 80% International, 10% Ford, and 10% other. About half of the buses have Blue Bird bodies, and about half have Thomas bodies.
At the other side of the terminal, long-distance buses, with a wider range of body types and manufacturers, arrive at upper deck and depart from the lower deck. There is a 5¢ fee to access the long-distance boarding platforms, which is payable with a newly-implemented contactless smartcard system called Rapipass.
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Read Full Post | March 11 2011 | School Bus Migrations | No Comments » |
Overturned Bus on the Cinta Costera (Photo from Critica en Linea – Click on the photo to see more)
Racing each other to pick up more passengers, the old school buses in Panama City collide with alarming frequency. One particularly horrific crash, which injured nearly three dozen people, occurred on the Cinta Costera in January, 2010. Here is a translation of excerpts of an article about the event:
Transit: Race Leaves More than Thirty Injured
Panic on the Coastal Beltway
Oh my God! The shout was followed with alarmed screams of the more than sixty passengers aboard a Panama Viejo bus, which rolled over several times as crushed sheet metal crunched over the hard pavement. Out of the completely overturned vehicle climbed men, women, and children, some bleeding, others in pain, and the rest in hysterics. Thirty-five injured was the final count, among them ten seriously injured and two infants.
It was about 10:40 AM yesterday, Sunday, when the vehicular tragedy occurred. The Panama Viejo bus, license plate B-3388, expired since 2003, was racing with another Panama Viejo bus, which fled the scene. During the race the young driver lost control and ended up crashing into a lamp pole. The bus destroyed the signs, literally flew and spun in the air, fell 20 meters away from the impact, and ended up facing in the opposite direction. People escaped from the emergency door and the front on their own, but several passengers were trapped inside the vehicle. A young man’s right arm was trapped between the pavement and the heavy bus; more than fifteen soldiers were able to move the diablo rojo to free him.
Tears, pain and blood – the scene was sad. The injured, trembling in panic, sat among the steps that are used daily by dozens of children for fun, waiting this time for the help of paramedics. Most victims were women.
The driver of the vehicle, Elías Eliecer Guerra Singh, 20, was unhurt in the accident. He is not licensed to drive public transport, only private cars. In addition, his age is not adequate to drive that kind of public transport.
The second bus involved was located hidden in Panama Viejo, where it was impounded.
With such graphic and sensational media reports about diablo rojo crashes, it’s no wonder the government is making the implementation of Metrobus such a priority. At a November event with the first of the newly delivered buses, the Presidential Minister made the ambitious claim that there would be zero diablos rojos in the city by August, 2011. When questioned about the seating capacity of the new Volvo buses, he replied “The important thing is not to go seated, the problem is to go safely, in a comfortable and trustworthy manner.” Crashes like the ones above only heighten the government’s ability to replace the existing system and eliminate the existing drivers. Metrobus drivers will not be competing for fares, so there should be little incentive for them to drive at such high speeds.… Read the rest
Read Full Post | March 01 2011 | School Bus Migrations and Transportation News | No Comments » |
Panama’s national government has made alternatives to the diablos rojos (old school buses) in Panama City a top priority. One approach is to formalize bus operations, consolidating operations into the municipally run Metro Bus system. The government offered to buy the buses of existing drivers, but buy-in has still been a problem. The government also produced the following video, which has some great footage of the existing problems.
Documental Metro Bus Panamá. from 5sentidos on Vimeo.
The short documentary opens with the story of Jose, a worker who lives in the Pacora neighborhood and has to wake up at 3:00 every morning to catch the bus. Other Panamanians then voice their concerns. The man in the blue shirt opines “I think that for these buses, which were useful in the schools in the United States, the seats on the left weren’t made for three adults.” In the middle of his soundbite, you can hear my friend Luis (more about him here) calling passengers for his “Calle Cincuenta” bus. After the tale of another commuter who gets stuck in traffic, the lady in the striped shirt complains, “[The diablo rojo drivers] go racing, they throw the buses on top of the others. To them, nothing and nobody matters. I think that the government has to see what it can do right now with transport.” The following man states, “The majority have mechanical problems – almost all of them.” A diablo rojo driver then explains, “I have been stuck 18 or 19 years driving a diablo rojo, racing, because they go, not for the benefit of the passengers, but to be able to be the first one at the stop and make more money.”
At the 2:00 mark, the documentary switches gears, and a smooth voice-over assures viewers, “Now it’s the peoples’ turn to have a transit system that is safe, comfortable, and reliable. The transformation of Panama City’s transportation system is already underway. Panamanians deserve a safe, comfortable, and reliable system – Metro Bus.” The smooth voice-over goes on to promise that by 2010, thousands of people will be benefiting from the service.
Unfortunately, the system has faced major implementation delays, primarily due to the lack of qualified drivers. This article, published in January, goes into greater detail. The editor of Panama Guide summarizes,
For the most part, those people who have experience driving the old “Red Devil” buses are buses are being rejected, probably because they have terrible driving records, many accidents, outstanding tickets, and bad habits, and bad attitudes. Before the individual bus owners had to take practically anyone who would sling their bus around the city to make a dime. Now, this company and the government of Panama have to be more stringent and demanding in their hiring practices. So, it’s not that there’s a shortage of experienced bus drivers – there’s a shortage of good bus drivers who won’t go out and pull the same crap they’ve been doing for years on the old buses.
… Read the rest
Read Full Post | February 15 2011 | School Bus Migrations and Transport and Transportation News | 1 Comment » |
Los diablos rojos, the red devils, as the buses of Panama City are widely known, were some of the most well-decorated I have seen on my trip.
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Read Full Post | February 15 2011 | School Bus Migrations and Transport | No Comments » |
Unlike in Nicaragua, the majority of the intercity buses I saw in my week in Costa Rica were coach buses (mainly Marcopolo bodies manufactured in Brazil). There were, however, plenty of old school buses being reused as transport for agricultural workers and students. The ones still being used as school buses were well marked with stop signs, etc.
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Read Full Post | February 08 2011 | School Bus Migrations and Transport | No Comments » |
I had the opportunity to view some of the bid documents and specifications for this bus acquisition in my meeting at IRTRAMMA. They were quite technical (e.g. finite element analysis of different bus components), and it seems like the government is satisfied that DINA, a Mexican manufacturer, will meet their requirements. Translated from “Buses nuevos vendrán en cinco meses,” published February 3rd on El 19 Digital, an online news source for President Ortega’s government:
By the middle of this year the first lot of buses coming from Mexico will enter the country, and by next October it is expected that all of the 350 units will be circulating in the capital to benefit some 350,000 Nicaraguans. The announcement was made by the director of Managua’s Municipal Transport Regulator (IRTRAMMA), comrade Francisco Alvarado, after signing the manufacturing contract with Mr. Martín Meléndez, representative of the Mexican company DINA Trucks Ltd.
These buses will have a capacity for 70 people (40 seated) and will be acquired by different urban transport cooperatives of the capital, whose representatives seemed satisfied with the entire bidding process, which concluded this Thursday with the signing of a contract equivalent to approximately $24 million, money financed by the Central American Bank of Economic Integration (BCIE) and managed by the government of President Daniel Ortega Saavedra.
“For DINA Trucks and for Mexico as a whole it is a pride to participate in this purchase of buses for the people of Nicaragua,” said Meléndez, the representative of the Mexican company.
He said that these new buses will be fabricated with the climactic and topographic conditions of Nicaragua in mind and “that all the citizens of Managua and Nicaragua should have the confidence that they can count on buses of the first world, of extraordinary quality, and that they will benefit.” Ten percent of all of the buses will be manufactured with a system of special lifts for people who use wheelchairs.
“By the end of this year Managua will totally transform its fleet and with that its model of municipal transit,” assured Alvarado.
Luis Jiménez, a bus owner, said that improving and transforming the system of buses in Managua could only happen under the direction of a Sandinista Government.
“The strength which the revolutionary government has used in these negotiations is excellent. We have ordered a bus that will have excellent technical features and at the right price, and that will benefit the people foremost,” said Jiménez.
The political overtones of this article make more sense when one considers that Nicaragua’s next presidential elections are scheduled for November. With an election looming, I am confident that most or all of the buses will actually be operating by October. This means the demand for US school buses in Nicaragua will have declined significantly by then. It also means that IRTRAMMA should consider changing its logo, which currently features a yellow school bus complete with a stop sign:
Read Full Post | February 08 2011 | School Bus Migrations and Transport and Transportation News | No Comments » |
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