Public Transportation in the DR
Whew, I made it through my first week!! Well, I´m safe and sound. I love it here so far. I´m dedicating this blog to my experience with public transportation in the DR.
To get to and from my home in Los Angeles, I have to take a carro publico for about 10 minutes to get to our school down the highway. Now a carro publico is a shared taxi, so it´s cheaper to take then a real taxi, but you, as the name says, have to share it with others. Imagine a really old, beat up car, put 6 passengers, plus their bags in it, and drive down the highway. Now, my first concern with this is the door is going to fall off, and I´m going to hit the highway at a very high velocity. But our instructors reassured us that the more beat up the car is, the safer it is because it means that it´s been in use for a while, and can be considered reliable. Well, after a week, we´ve finally figured out how to fit 4 people in the back seat comfortably, and can flag one down with ease.
The other option to get around is in a guagua. It´s the DR version of a bus. There is a man (called a cobrador) hanging out the door yelling at people on the side of the street the route of the bus, once again, you flag one down, and squish into the bus like sardines in order to get to your destination. It´s a bit cheaper, and a little more comfortable, but not as regular to catch as a carro publico.
So, Thursday, our classes went downtown for a practical lesson in public transportation and to tour the Peace Corps offices. At one of the busstops, the cobrador exited the bus to find some passengers. He´s a pretty important person to have on the bus. He knows where everyone is going and takes the money from eace passenger. Well, at this particular busstop, the driver left without the cobrador. Everyone either needed to pay or get there change, and there was no cobrador to pay. Fortunately, the cobrador caught up in a carro publico, much to his own humilition. Poor guy.
To get to and from my home in Los Angeles, I have to take a carro publico for about 10 minutes to get to our school down the highway. Now a carro publico is a shared taxi, so it´s cheaper to take then a real taxi, but you, as the name says, have to share it with others. Imagine a really old, beat up car, put 6 passengers, plus their bags in it, and drive down the highway. Now, my first concern with this is the door is going to fall off, and I´m going to hit the highway at a very high velocity. But our instructors reassured us that the more beat up the car is, the safer it is because it means that it´s been in use for a while, and can be considered reliable. Well, after a week, we´ve finally figured out how to fit 4 people in the back seat comfortably, and can flag one down with ease.
The other option to get around is in a guagua. It´s the DR version of a bus. There is a man (called a cobrador) hanging out the door yelling at people on the side of the street the route of the bus, once again, you flag one down, and squish into the bus like sardines in order to get to your destination. It´s a bit cheaper, and a little more comfortable, but not as regular to catch as a carro publico.
So, Thursday, our classes went downtown for a practical lesson in public transportation and to tour the Peace Corps offices. At one of the busstops, the cobrador exited the bus to find some passengers. He´s a pretty important person to have on the bus. He knows where everyone is going and takes the money from eace passenger. Well, at this particular busstop, the driver left without the cobrador. Everyone either needed to pay or get there change, and there was no cobrador to pay. Fortunately, the cobrador caught up in a carro publico, much to his own humilition. Poor guy.
posted by Jenn | 07:26
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