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It sounds a bit like marshrutka[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshrutka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshrutka

by eCa 8y ago

dmazin 8y ago
Every time I return to Russia these fascinate me. They have many routes and will stop wherever you request. The general term is Share taxi: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi
- Symbiote 8y ago
  The Wikipedia picture is from Senegal. When I visited, these were chaotic, but by some means the passengers would get to the destination. I spent one journey with my head between my knees, since the whole floor of the bus was loaded with sacks of grain and sugar women had bought at the market. Another journey, I was wedged amongst about 20 children — there is always room for an additional child on a car rapide. The windows were kept closed (I have no idea why), it was about 40° inside. I particularly remember being asked to get off the bus, but for the first time, there was also a confused African man. He was from Guinea, and like me had no idea what was happening. I understood bits of the French explanation, he understood bits of the Mandinka, and we found the replacement bus together.
  - cdubzzz 8y ago
    Bush taxis, essentially. I spent three years using them in West Africa and that experience is why I am pretty much unfazed by any transit system here in the US. I’m surprised you were asked to get off one. Where I was pretty much everyone took it as a challenge to see just how many people they could jam in to the damn things (:
- blacksmith_tb 8y ago
  In Morocco they're called Grands Taxis, and they are quite useful for getting around from village to village. In the morning people come to the public square and once enough passengers who want to travel along the same route have assembled you all pack into an old diesel Mercedes sedan and split the fare. I remember the driver buying all of his passengers lunch on one of my trips!
princekolt 8y ago
Oh we had plenty of those where I grew up in Brazil. Usually they were supposed to be hired only by neighborhood associations and to transport only those people that hired them, but effectively they were clandestine bus lines and would pickup anyone who hailed them. That, added to how immensely imprudent and dangerous their driving usually was caused them to be outlawed completely some 8-10 years ago.
syassami 8y ago
It was even once a thing in SF https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-last-ride-of-the-jitney-news-transit-transportation-uber-lyft-chariot-jess-losa-caltrain-jitney-muni-sfmta/Content?oid=4532170 https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-last-ride-of-...
mncharity 8y ago
NYC has "dollar vans", legal and otherwise. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/nyregion/inside-the-dollar-van-wars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/nyregion/inside-the-dolla... https://projects.newyorker.com/story/nyc-dollar-vans/ https://projects.newyorker.com/story/nyc-dollar-vans/

It sounds a bit like marshrutka[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshrutka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshrutka

by eCa 8y ago

It sounds a bit like marshrutka[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshrutka https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshrutka

dmazin 8y ago

Every time I return to Russia these fascinate me. They have many routes and will stop wherever you request. The general term is Share taxi: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Share_taxi

Symbiote 8y ago
The Wikipedia picture is from Senegal. When I visited, these were chaotic, but by some means the passengers would get to the destination. I spent one journey with my head between my knees, since the whole floor of the bus was loaded with sacks of grain and sugar women had bought at the market. Another journey, I was wedged amongst about 20 children — there is always room for an additional child on a car rapide. The windows were kept closed (I have no idea why), it was about 40° inside. I particularly remember being asked to get off the bus, but for the first time, there was also a confused African man. He was from Guinea, and like me had no idea what was happening. I understood bits of the French explanation, he understood bits of the Mandinka, and we found the replacement bus together.
- cdubzzz 8y ago
  Bush taxis, essentially. I spent three years using them in West Africa and that experience is why I am pretty much unfazed by any transit system here in the US. I’m surprised you were asked to get off one. Where I was pretty much everyone took it as a challenge to see just how many people they could jam in to the damn things (:
blacksmith_tb 8y ago
In Morocco they're called Grands Taxis, and they are quite useful for getting around from village to village. In the morning people come to the public square and once enough passengers who want to travel along the same route have assembled you all pack into an old diesel Mercedes sedan and split the fare. I remember the driver buying all of his passengers lunch on one of my trips!

princekolt 8y ago

Oh we had plenty of those where I grew up in Brazil. Usually they were supposed to be hired only by neighborhood associations and to transport only those people that hired them, but effectively they were clandestine bus lines and would pickup anyone who hailed them. That, added to how immensely imprudent and dangerous their driving usually was caused them to be outlawed completely some 8-10 years ago.

syassami 8y ago

It was even once a thing in SF https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-last-ride-of-the-jitney-news-transit-transportation-uber-lyft-chariot-jess-losa-caltrain-jitney-muni-sfmta/Content?oid=4532170 https://archives.sfweekly.com/sanfrancisco/the-last-ride-of-...

mncharity 8y ago

NYC has "dollar vans", legal and otherwise. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/nyregion/inside-the-dollar-van-wars.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/08/nyregion/inside-the-dolla... https://projects.newyorker.com/story/nyc-dollar-vans/ https://projects.newyorker.com/story/nyc-dollar-vans/