Transantiago

So after having utilized it for nearly 5 months, I have decided that the Santiago public transportation system deserves an entry all to itself. Really, I don't know what I would do without Transantiago or my handy "Bip!" card, but I also have to say that I some of my strangest experiences in Santiago have taken place on the metros (subways) and micros (buses).

The Santiago public transportation system as it exists now is relatively new. In February of this year, a program was created that allows commuters to pay the fare once (let's say to get on the bus) and as many times as necessary within the first hour after the payment, be able to enter free into any other form of Transantiago. All payments are made by way of the bip! card, so called because as you board the bus or enter the subway, you slide it in front of a sensor and it "beeps" to tell you you have paid. The bip cards can be purchased and charged at many different places within Santiago, with students and senior citizens being able to get different cards which charge them a lower fare. Basically, my bip! card is something I do not leave home without.

Ok, so to an outsider like me, this system seems like the greatest thing sliced bread, mainly because Savannah's (and to a lesser extent Athens') public transportation is inadequate to say the least. However, the transition to Transantiago has not been without its problems. Drivers who formerly got paid on comission (and still may, I'm not really sure), now find themselves facing the possibility of lower income because a good number of the people who board have already paid to ride, and thus less money may be going into the pot. The newfound facility the system provides has also created what seems to have been an unanticipatedly great increase of users, especially since before the metros were much more expensive in relation to the micros and now they cost the same. I have seen boarding lines at rush hour that rival those at Disney World in the dead of July, and I have seen buses so full that the bus doors are open and people are hanging out, half in the bus, and half inviting passing cars to knock off a limb or two. Since I have been here, there have been cases of bus driver's strikes and disgruntled workers throwing rocks at moving buses and all that kind of fun stuff, but mainly I am giving this (hopefully not so boring) background so that you can understand that the environment of public transportation in Santiago right now is a very unique one. I would say it has more underlying tensions than "normal," and those tensions come out in lots of different ways especially when mixed with the weirdness that is the behavior of the human being.

So the freshest thing on my mind in regards to my fellow passengers on Transantiago is the wrath I experience every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning when I climb onto the bus that stops in front of my grandma's apartment. Now, I think most people who know me would say I am a pretty calm and easy-going person for the most part, so just try to imagine experiencing this same scenario without fail 3 days a week and think about you would feel:

Some mornings, the bus is half-empty, others it is close to full. Sometimes I can leave at 9:05 and hit a traffic jam, and others I can leave at 9:07 and almost feel as if the bus has not had to brake. What does not change however, is that people INSIST on sitting on the seat closest to the aisle, leaving the one next to the window empty. Now, I am an able-bodied person and I usually choose to just stand, but if there is an open seat I will take it, mainly because it frees up room for other passengers and makes it easier for them to get on the bus when you aren't cluttering up the aisles. It has ALWAYS been a pet peeve of mine when people make it decidedly difficult to get into a seat, and even moreso when they act insulted that you should make them shift even a tiny bit from the position they were in. I always feel like saying, "Oh that's right, I forgot that YOU are the MOST important person on this bus. So important that you need to have space next to you, even when other people clearly could use a seat. And I love how you cannot be bothered to make the effort to scoot over so I may also sit down, much less at least make it easier for ME to sit by the window, if you so need the aisle seat. Oh yeah, and thanks for the attitude, your purse is ugly and you have a mustache." Anyway, that is more or less what I find running through my head on a daily basis, and I understand the need to be close to the door to get off the bus at your stop, but really really, being by a window never hurt anyone and I may come to blows trying to prove it.

Another interesting aspect of Transantiago is that vendors, beggars, and musicians do not have to pay fare, so on a normal ride anywhere from 1 to 4 people may approach you soliciting money. There are some that will climb on the bus and walk around passing out gumballs, only for you to find that they come back around expecting you to pay for it. Others may try to sell you an ice cream, coca cola, or candy bar "a cien pesos!" and still others will serenade you with the guitar in their hand and voices better than you would ever expect. Somehow I always have tons of change and I don't mind getting rid of it when I'm on my way somewhere. I actually always try to have change because the one time I didn't, a deaf man came around passing out a flyer with the sign language alphabet on it, and me being dumb, took one, and then had to give it back to him without paying. If you can't pay, you aren't supposed to take whatever they are handing out, and I remember feeling really helpless because I couldn't really explain to him why I couldn't pay him (I pulled my pockets inside out like in old cartoons), and I could see the hurt and disappointment in his eyes. People make their livings from what they gain on the buses, and I would rather give them money than be left with the heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach that says that I saw someone worse off than me that I could have helped and didn't. Anyway, sad as all that may be, there have been times when the free-riders, especially the musicians have made my day. Like the one time right after my parents had gone back to the States, and I was feeling lonely, that I was treated to an early morning ride with a man singing oldies songs in English. I felt more at home. Or the time when I rode back from what had been a kind of stressing evaluation in my theatrical make-up class, and shared a ride with a four piece band that played Andean music (no easy task performing with hand drums, woodwinds, etc. on a bus) and sold CDs. There was also the time when Mike was here that we rode on the bus together and saw a guitarist that looked almost identical to my friend Eddie, down to the tattoos , hair, and style of playing. Yet another time, a freestyle rapper (boombox by the head and all) did a really good rap relating to current events of the day and things we were passing. However, the best experience I have had so far was the time when I was on the bus with the same musician two days in a row, and the main song he sang both days was one I had never heard before called "Dulce Daniela." The lyrics and the way he sang were simply beautiful (it didn't hurt that my name was mentioned), and I got off the bus almost floating with happiness and empty of pocket.

The last thing I would like to touch upon about public transportation here in Santiago is that it is considered a PRIME spot to make out. Who would have thought that people would be SO busy that they would NEED to use the few minutes spent going from place to place working in tonsil hockey sessions? And it isn't only young people, oh no, I have seen my fair share of older couples going at it, and I also have seen things get a little more heated between couples than they probably should considering they are ALREADY making out around 200 or so complete strangers. Anyway, the best part of all of that in-public loving is that about once a week or so, I get to experience the joy of having it happen RIGHT BESIDE MY HEAD. now, i am all for people being in love, but when you are on a different continent than your boyfriend, hearing tongues swishing around and saliva being swapped is not only 1) more than kind of disgusting but 2) it makes you feel lonely. Sometimes I wonder if I would do the same if I had grown up in Chile, because I am really the only person on Transantiago that even seems to be affected/grossed out by this phenomena.

Anyway, now that this blog has taken on eternal proportions, I would just like to close with a brief note to Transantiago:

Dear Transantiago,

Thank you for getting me where I need to be while providing me entertainment and emotional stimulation. Thank you for usually being on time and dependable, and for having long buses and metros so that I can have a means to move around when that one creepy guy two feet away from me will not stop staring at me. Thank you for ridding me not only of that change that was creating an annoying bulge in my pocket, but also of my fear of death while hurtling through traffic at breakneck speed. Thank you for always being so full between the hours of 6:30 and 8 pm that I am forced to exercise and WALK 35 minutes to Providencia. For these and many other things I sincerely thank you. Oh, and I was wondering if there might be a possibility of providing free soap to all passengers. Being underground in the first place and then having your nostrils invaded by rank B.O. is not a pleasant part of the public transportation experience.

bip!,

Daniela