passengers. By the time they dropped me off at 5 p.m., we had become fast friends. During the following weeks, I met with them often to learn
more about how school buses are remade and repurposed into Panama City’s transportation fleet. We renewed the bus’s insurance together and bought a new set of blinking LED lights to decorate the windshield. We spent a day at a local garage rebuilding the bus’s transmission. While many buses arrive in Panama with automatic transmissions, most of them are replaced with manual ones to facili- tate maintenance. Tese and other modifications transform familiar vehicles into such different machines that, according to Luis, many tourists from the United States are surprised when he tells them that the diablos rojos are actually former school buses. My favorite experience with these two Panamanians ensued
when they asked me if I had ever driven a bus. When I replied in the negative, they grinned and asserted, “Well, you’d better try it now. It’s a crucial part of your research!” Five minutes later, I was fighting the clutch while driving through the streets of Panama City (video here:
www.stnonline.com/go/841). Driving this bus was the most memorable experience in my
five months in Central America. Winding from the border be- tween Belize and Mexico in the north to the Panama Canal in the south, I encountered school buses along the entire way of this 5,000-mile stage of my journey. Yet, old American school buses are easy to find much farther afield. Tey are not uncom- mon throughout South America, and a shipment of 10 yellow American school buses recently arrived in Punta Arenas, the southernmost city on the South American continent. I even saw a Blue Bird All-American parked at a school in Tanzania, literally halfway around the world from its birthplace in Georgia. Because Tanzanians drive on the lefthand side of the road, im-
ported American vehicles are relatively rare. About 90 percent of the country’s public and private transportation fleet is purchased used from Japan. After investigating the use of American school buses in Central America, I was now across the Atlantic observing a mirroring trend, with former Japanese school buses serving to transport the general population in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In the course of my year, I rode on 110 retired American school
buses. Tese ranged across body types, makes and models, and their prevalence made clear the importance of these imported vehicles in the recent history of many developing countries.
UPGRADING FLEETS TO BRT Yet, there is a widespread concern about the safety, reliability and
environmental effects of these old buses. Despite being lauded for their incredible safety record in the states, these older buses have a well-deserved reputation of being dangerous, pollution-spouting nuisances. Most riders are accustomed to seeing the pavement through holes in the floors of some of these decades-old vehicles, but governments are seeking change. An increasingly popular mod- el, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), is replacing the informal operation of used buses around the world, from Guatemala City to Jakarta, and Johannesburg to Buenos Aires. BRT, which relies on specially designed vehicles, subway-like
boarding stations and exclusive lanes for buses, was pioneered in Curitiba, Brazil, in the 1970s. Te mayor at the time wanted a
Once used for preschool transport in Japan, this minibus now serves as a “daladala,” or share taxi, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
high-capacity, high-quality system at an affordable price, and his “surface metro” delivered. Cities began following Curitiba’s lead, and the successful TransMilenio system in Bogota, Colombia, pop- ularized the concept. Bogota’s former mayor, Enrique Peñalosa, is fanning the flames of BRT’s spread. Chilean officials implemented a TransMilenio-like system across the capital of Santiago in 2007, and they are now offering advice to the Nicaraguan government for a BRT system in Managua. Dar es Salaam began construction of their first BRT line in February, and the government there hopes to avoid the political delays and violence that dogged the opening of BRT systems in Johannesburg and Cape Town. In the case of Cape Town, BRT buses and station infrastructure
were ready before the 2010 World Cup, but an operating agree- ment with existing minibus owners could not be reached until May 2011. As passengers demand safer, more comfortable transporta- tion and governments develop technical and political expertise in the implementation of new BRT systems, international demand for used school buses is likely to decline significantly.
SAFETY AND AFFORDABILITY FOR STUDENTS Adult commuters are not the only passengers demanding
improved service. Students around the world are taking a stand for safer, more affordable options for travel to school. Dr. David Mfinanga, a professor with the Volvo Research and Education Foundation’s African Centre of Excellence for Studies in Public and Non-motorized Transportation, told me about the travails many young scholars face in Dar es Salaam. As in Panama City, the independent drivers in Dar es Salaam have a hard time breaking even, so they are reluctant to comply with the govern- ment-mandated reduced student fare. Since the government has mandated these reduced fares without providing any subsi- dies to operators, conductors often mistreat students or simply deny them boarding to avoid losing revenue. Efforts to provided dedicated school transportation have been limited in scope, and fundamental changes are needed to improve the mobility of schoolchildren in Tanzania. A number of recent incidents have turned a spotlight on unsafe
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