All aboard!
When living in Central America, I used public transit to circumvent spotty navigation skills and the need to second-guess crazy drivers. The same holds true here in Washington…and imagine the similarities I see between the two nation’s transit systems:
1. Like mysterious woodland creatures, people emerge from heavily treed landscapes – not a house in sight – to wander towards the bus stop.
I saw this in rural Costa Rica and I see this now in Reston.
Key difference: The Fairfax Connector is not a repurposed Wisconsin school bus.
2. Standing room only
True on the “chicken bus,” true on the Orange Line.
Key difference: No one sits on the dashboard.
3. Armpits in the face
From a Brooks Brothers armpit to one draped in “ropa Americana,” the hazards of standing near the grab-bar are the same the world over.
Key difference: On WMATA, no seven-months-pregnant woman is squeezing through the aisles selling plaintains.
4. Irregular Sunday service
Key difference: On the Red Line, the transito police doesn’t stop the railcar periodically to raid for (and boot off) illegal Nicaraguans.
posted by globalchameleon @ 9:12 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Point 4 may be true, but I'm sure there are folks in Virginia looking to implement similar procedures on the Blue, Orange, and Yellow Lines.
Reston? Don't tell me you've left the Hot Action Cop-enforced safety of Friendship Heights.
Yeah, Reston is pretty wild, with chipmunks and deer and bunnies running around. Hot Action Cop keeps that stuff in check.
thanks for the vivid memories of central america!! campesinos emerging from forested areas. sitting 3 or 4 people to a seat on a repurposed school bus. watching a woman keep a nearly dead chicken alive by periodically slapping it back to life. ah, the sights, the smells of a chicken bus.
Post a Comment
<< Home