SPECIAL REPORT The REUSE of School Buses in the Global South By Anson Stewart
A brightly painted Thomas Built bus on Panama City’s Coastal Beltway.
way from the United States to the developing world, where they are put into service as general public transportation vehicles. I started with a set of questions about how such former school
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transport vehicles impact personal mobility, urban form, global sustainability and environmental justice. Riding these vehicles and traveling and talking with the drivers and passengers who now fill the seats gave me insight into some of these questions. Conversations with a number of planners and policymakers pro- vided insight into others. Yet, I returned after a year with many more new questions
than answers.
SCHOOL BUS MIGRATIONS Used school buses have long made their way to Central America
countries by barge or Mexican roads. Te buses of Belize (Novem- ber 2010 issue), Guatemala (April 2011 issue) and Nicaragua (last month) were impressive, but nothing compared to the diablos rojos (red devils) of Panama City. Panamanian bus owners take pride in adorning their vehicles with colorful spray-painted murals, risqué vinyl adhesives, booming sound
36 School Transportation News Magazine October 2011
n the summer of 2010, I began a yearlong Watson Fellowship jour- ney that would take me through 20 countries and across three continents. I intended to follow the school buses that make their
systems and blazing lights. Blue Birds and Tomas Built Buses, many more than 30 years old, ply the streets of Panama’s capital bearing images of everything from idyllic rural landscapes to drivers’ scantily clad girlfriends, from Darth Vader to political figures Fidel Castro and Manuel Noriega, from religious iconography to rapper 50 Cent. Along with such decorations, a loud conductor ushering people
onboard and an aggressive driver willing to race other buses are important tools in the fight for passengers’ 25-cent fares. Buses are individually owned, so drivers are constantly fighting to increase their take-home pay. One afternoon, a white 1987 Blue Bird/International bus parked
in the Panama Viejo neighborhood caught my eye. Cartoon char- acters Pinky and the Brain graced the front of the bus, along with flags for the soccer team FC Barcelona. A friendly looking young man was washing the bus’ hubcaps, and I struck up a conversation with him about my travels and research. Luis invited me to accompany him and the bus’ driver, Edwin,
on their runs the following day. I met them at 6:30 a.m. in Plaza Cinco de Mayo and spent the whole day riding along with them. Tey graciously explained to me the ins and outs of their busi- ness, the factors involved in deciding whether to make another run or wait at a layover point, relationships with other drivers and owners, and the nuances of calling out stops and attracting
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