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Tag: public transport

El Salvador’s suicidal bus service

I think it’s fair to say that I’m better qualified than many to know what dangerous public transport really is. I’ve been hurtled the wrong way down a motorway against the oncoming traffic, protected only by the driver blaring his horn. I’ve been flung around whilst overtaking on blind bends over a precipice while the driver talks on his phone. I’ve shot past the flashing lights and wailing siren of an ambulance speeding its way to an accident, because our…

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The Beauty of Bolivian Buses

The city of Cochabamba in Bolivia decided to make public transport a lot more visually stimulating for its people by splashing a load of colourful paintwork all over its buses. You have to wonder why more places don’t try something similar as its a great advert for the place and helps liven up the daily commute.   Using some traditional design ideas brought up to date with modern stylings, the buses are highly distinctive but each driver has added their…

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The tuk tuks of Dongola

The custom, auto-rickshaw scene in Sudan In a short space of time, cheap, Asian imports have transformed many aspects of life for Africans: mobile phones are now within reach of the relatively poor, opening up communication in what has always been an oral culture that values the spoken word over the written one; Chinese motorbikes have created jobs for two-wheeled taxi drivers and increased access for individuals in more remote places that you might have had to wait a week…

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Georgia: God and the Ford Transit

High up on cliff faces and on desolate hills are the caves that for centuries Georgian monks hid themselves away in to be closer to God, undisturbed by the comings and goings of everyday life and the temptations of man. These days their seclusion is rather diminished by the troops of tourists marching past in search of a slice of Georgian history, but at least it keeps the coffers full. Evidently the revenue streams of the good old days were…

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Rubbish roads

Public transport is a subject I have already given you a flavour of so the dereliction of its vehicles will come as no surprise but I feel obliged to cover some organisational issues with bus services. To most of us it would seem logical, when providing a regular coach service, to relate ticket sales to the quantity of seats on a coach and the departure times, but Cote d’Ivoire in particular has other ideas. Lets say the basic plan is…

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Good vibes in The Gambia

I have come to learn that public transport offers an enlightening, microcosmic view of society in many countries, the first bus journey I and my friend Steve take in the Gambia being a case in point. Our weather beaten, crumpled carriage finally clanged and grumbled into life on the 5th attempt when several of the passengers had got out to help push starting;  amiable locals chatted away in a melange of languages typical of the region (I have heard four…

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