Traversing the Plane - I

-Jeff Nadeau-

Okay. “Think Discovery Channel.”

Proceeding from my earlier post highlighting the political and economic isolation of non-planned urban settlement, I’m going to lay out an informal survey discussing how people get from one Point to another, across the Plane and in the absence or shortage of Lines.

I think if Don were describing this, he’d call it a bit shaggy—on the other hand, this is not metaphorical or hypothetical. My research here is essentially all fieldwork: a relatively short two-month period of participant observation in various forms of public transport in Santo Domingo.

The humblest conveyance with which I am acquainted (barring perhaps the donkey and cart which, while occasionally in evidence on the streets, really have no place in four-lane traffic in a city of 2.2 million) is the motoconcho. Essentially this is a motorcyclist for hire, frequently on a Chinese-made 125cc two-stroke or the ubiquitous Honda Cub. Being a small vehicle, it can better navigate congested roads (common in countries with underdeveloped infrastructure) than a car. Transportation along similar principles can be found worldwide- perhaps most iconically in Africa, and also in the autorickshaws of southern Asia.

Flickr, niniferrose's photostream, http://www.flickr.com/photos/niniferrose/.

They are inexpensive to buy and operate, and thus accessible to individual entrepreneurs. They are also simply constructed. This is especially advantageous in informal economies where income-generating work is scarce- one might not take a faulty bike to a shop, but rather to a mechanically-inclined neighbour in exchange for a service or a favour.

In a world short on capital, goods are fixed many times before they are replaced and it is not uncommon to see vehicles with a service life of decades. This was most evident in the publicar system of Santo Domingo: a fleet of well-worn cars operating on several fixed routes across the city, stopping to collect passengers whenever flagged down. These vehicles- usually late-model Japanese imports like Toyota Corollas- were often falling to pieces, some approaching thirty years old, and still crossing the city dozens of times a day.

Publicar - source lost, but a good view of a little-documented subject.

Though crowded, with cars picking up passengers literally until no more will fit, this system worked remarkably well. Publicar ridership was cheap, it seemed popular, and it combined the stop-anywhere freedom of a taxi with the cost-effectiveness of a fixed route laid out according to rider demand.

I can also claim some familiarity with the public buses known as guagua or as voladoras, "flyers," a name which a local friend attributed to the recklessness of the drivers. These don't differ too much from the public buses we are accustomed to in Canada, aside perhaps in terms of overcrowding and driver professionalism.

There is also the informal transportation provided by good samaritans- trucks operating at below capacity, or serving as de facto school buses in some areas- again, while an interesting case and certainly deserving of some attention, this is just an informal institution.

The motoconcho and the publicar, on the other hand, are effective examples of cellular organization and should illustrate some general principles relating subsistence urbanity that I will discuss in my next entry.