Saturday, October 22, 2005

There's a new bus in town

Designed in Sweden
built in Brazil
deployed in Santiago.
Their destination?
THE FUTURE.

This is more or less how I felt when I first saw them. The bus drivers' pride was unmistakable as they test drove the new vehicles around the capital during this last month.
The electronic sign on the front simply read CHILE 2005.

They are white and green, low and fairly silent. To anyone in Europe this may not sound like such big news, but to the South American continent they are a novelty.
If you consider the bus fleet to be a good indicator of a city's level of development, then this is a mayor boost for the Chilean capital.
The drivers of the old buses are not too happy though, as they rightfully see the new buses as a threatening alternative to their noisy, uncomfortable transports. They are not keen to give way and announced they would go on strike for a full day. Most bus-riders don't have cars, so this would mean severe complications for them. Luckily, a good part of the bus lines didn't obey the strike, showing the once strong "mafia" is steadily losing it's force.
One person that will definitely celebrate today is Patricia, who has little less than declared open war on the "nice" bus drivers.
Patty, congratulations, you won!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Completely and totally awesome. Anyone who has ever tried to solicit the services of the old micros know what a tremendous, what an earth-shaking piece of news this is.

In the old micros you could look down and notice that you had the open road zooming by under your feet, via the gaping hole in the floor. You could (as Isabel) get a severe reprimand from the driver because you dared to use the ticket-machine, instead of getting your ticket directly from the driver. Or maybe you paid, and had the driver tell you that he is out of tickets. (this is a lie, and they only try it because i look like the biggest tourist ever).

My fondest Micro-memory is the bus-driver friend i made in Temuco during my teens. He would drive up on the curb on his approach when he saw me, to jokingly run me over. I never had to pay him, in exchange for some conversation. I guess that in a less hectic town, the charm of the old buses work a bit better.

The times they are a-changing!