by KYYX4ever » Sat Jan 13, 2007 2:04 am
[quote][i]Originally posted by marvymarv[/i]
<br>Is it actually part of the public transportation system? Government subsidized if not sponsored? It just seems dangerous, people sitting on the roof. That would never fly in America.
<a href="http://marvymarv.multiply.com/">[i]You on the guestlist?[/i]</a>
[/quote]
When I traveled around Africa, those types of buses/"jeepneys" were very common, but no matter what the vehicle looked like, there were ALWAYS people on the roof. Sometimes livestock! For some reason, people crammed themselves anywhere they could fit when the bus was full. Most of the time, it was unknown when the next bus would come along, so folks just climbed aboard any bus they could. It was also common to hang onto or out of the windows, hop onto the runningboards and clutch any part of the bus you could hang onto, hang off the back of the bus while standing on the fenders, and...clamber atop the roof. A lot of the time, you didn't have to pay if, technically, you couldn't make it [i]inside[/i] the bus. The authorities tried to crack down on it, but they couldn't be everywhere at once. I swear I am not making this up. Here's my funny story: once, while travelling in the Sudan via crowded bus, we were on a stretch of rural road and the bus stops for a small crowd of people on the side of the road. They also have livestock! A few of the folks on the bus jump off and begin rigging up some ropes for a pulley to get the cow and goats atop the bus. The bus driver stood next to the bus shouting at them the entire time that they were not allowed to be doing this (well, I actually couldn't understand the language, but that's what it sounded like to me). Everyone else on the bus is just acting like this is completely normal. Anyway, the livestock all get hoisted up on the roof and tied down to it, and we get rolling again. However, the cow doesn't like this one bit, and starts kicking and rolling around. We weren't far down the road before the cow managed to punch a hole in the roof with its hoof! For the rest of the journey, this cow hoof is sticking thru the roof, immobilized, and everyone is acting like this is normal business. I thought it was hilarious! This kind of stuff appeared to happen all the time. I will try to scan a good picture I have of an overpacked bus. "Safety" was not at the top of their minds; getting where you needed to go was. Sorry to babble; I have a lot of these types of stories. Vehicle transportation in other countries is always fraught with STORIES ![:D]