Santo Domingo Metro

London_Calling said:

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Hasn?t the DR got any transport planners who could put together dedidicated bus lanes and functioning bus services at say 5 min frequencies at a fraction of the cost of a metro.

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Not with the guagua, publicos and taxi unions in place. The only way the metro will proceed is by promising jobs to the unions.

There are bus lanes, but no one ever respected them.

The previous Leonel government brought in a fleet of buses which made a difference but they still only cater for people who have no alternative but to use public transport. They are looking worse for wear these days.

As Howmar says, the unions are a huge obstacle.

The bus system was nice when Leonel got it in place 1998-99, and the reserved lanes were strongly enforced by AMET then -- to the chagrin of the taxi and voladores. I rode the buses on 27 de Sept. frequently while living in SD then.

The Hippo administration put a former taxi union official in charge of the public bus system, so it is no surprise it was allowed to deteriorate. Reportedly some 50% of the bus fleet bought during the first Fernandez Administration is now unusable due to lack of regular maintenance during the Hippo years.

I have a wonderful picture saved in my files

But the darned thing is too big to put up here--Uh,,,,Wud, if you cud, do you know how to shrink Photos that are in your files?-

Anyway I have asked Robert, the webmaster, to see if he can shrink it. It is a hoot...

Metro? It is a major move. From the gossip I hear it is a deal for Hipol, err Leonel to gather funds for his re-election bid in '06...just him and his landlord, Diandino...

Did you know that F?lix Bautista, head of the office that audits all state public works projects is also rumored to be the major collector of money for the Global foundation????? And that he is one of two or three NGOs that was NOT cut out of the budget???? HUMMMMMM?

Oh this is lovely........No wonder the Participaci?n Ciudadana are nearly vomiting with their year-end report...transparency HA!

HB

PLEASE OH PLEASE CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL: THANKS KIWI!!

I think a tram system would be a lot better than a metro. I lived in Croatia in the 1990's and it had really nice trams that were very efficient. I could see something like that in SD. It would also be cheaper than a metro.

As for buses, I read somewhere that Trujillo had a company that actually built double decker buses for mass transit, like that have in London. Does anyone know if that is actually true?

Yes, I've seen photos and paintings of the Colonial Zone with open-topped double deckers. My husband says they were still around as late as the early 70s. Does anyone know if there were trams here at any point?

Trams would be a much saner solution. They are not so expensive, and would work just as well.

I would really like to see a photo of one of these double decker buses.

Does anyone have any more information on these vehicles? Did Trujillo cooperate with an American car company on this project? Or perhaps a British one? What years were they produced? What colors were they painted? (Were they all the same color, like the famous red buses of London?)

I wish the DR government would restore a few of these buses.

Put another way - the unions and a few NGOs are small potatoes. Leonel has a big campaign debt to pay to a big fish, and nothing that anyone says will change that. After all, Leonel wants to win next time too, and can't do it without the $$$$ provided by his so-called "donor".

Double deckers

joel pacheco said:

As for buses, I read somewhere that Trujillo had a company that actually built double decker buses for mass transit, like that have in London. Does anyone know if that is actually true?

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The buses you are talking about were built on a US truck chassis. They were all hand crafted with wood, wrapped on sheet metal and painted with bright stripes. The stair was shaped like a half moon in the rear and all the seats were like park benches. During those days most buses were hand built by carpenters. Very crude when compared to the London buses.

At any rate besides been dangerous they were a lot of fun. There was nothing like a Sunday ride though the city riding one of those buses.
Family groups would hop in and ride all around town but more often than not somebody would return home with some bruises or a black eye (some dead). You had to be alert for tree branches and telephone cables. Usually the passengers on the front would be on guard to yell DUCK! and then the rest would dive for cover and wait. Soon after your could hear the cable(s) hitting the rows of seats or the branches passing right above sometimes hitting you in the back.
But you could not wait till the following weekend to do it all over again.

Thank you so much Petaka!!!!

It's responses like yours which makes me love the DR 1 message boards so much!:classic:

What colors were the buses painted?

I'm still hoping for a photograph of one of these double decker buses.

It would be great to see a few old London double decker buses refurbished and put back on the streets of Santo Domingo. It is not unusual for Western countries to donate old vehicles, perhaps "London Calling" can pull a few strings?

Just keep on the look out for tree branches and telephone cables...:laugh:

joel pacheco said:

Thank you so much Petaka!!!!

It's responses like yours which makes me love the DR 1 message boards so much!:classic:

What colors where the buses painted?

I'm still hoping for a photograph of one of these double decker buses.

It would be great to see a few old London double decker buses refurbished and put back on the streets of Santo Domingo. It is not unusual for Western countries to donate old vehicles, perhaps "London Calling" can pull a few strings.

Just keep on the look out for tree branches and telephone wires...:laugh:

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There are currently a couple of double-decker buses sitting in a parking lot in Puerto Plata. Looks like they are going to be tour buses.

There are some new double decker open top tour buses in SD as well, I don't know if it ever took off. They were brought over from Spain and parked on Churchill but I never saw them in action.

Joel, donations of those used London buses will not make anyone in government here enough money, and the cost of maintenance and repair of such old vehicles would make it very impractical anyway.