Micro Buses from Hell

I've had a love-hate relationship with San Salvador's urban micro-buses ever since arriving here. These feelings echo my feelings about the city as a whole. On the one hand, the cheapskate in me loves a system that lets you cross the whole city for 25 cents. And of course those low fares are essential to the workers of the city, many of whom have to take two or more buses (no transfers offered on this system) to get to work and only earn $300 or less a month. Also, the drivers and their privately operated buses have a certain bad-boy coolness about them that you'll never see in a municipally operated transit agency in the U.S. Many of the buses have names painted across the windshield -- in most cases the name of a loved one or family member (see Emmy below), but some of the tough-guy names you gotta love: "Apocalipsis," "Taliban," and Basilia's and my favorite, "Corrupción Total."

On the other hand, these buses are among the worst polluters in the city, their drivers are frighteningly reckless, and they have a reputation for being crime magnets. The crime of course includes pickpocketing and holdups of passengers, but also gangs demand regular "protection" payments from the drivers. The horrific massacre and burning of 14 passengers on board one of these buses in the Mejicanos district of the capital the night before last may have been a gang's revenge against a driver who refused to pay up...though I hear other explanations floating around.

Yesterday morning other UDB staff and I got to meet with staff from FOMILENIO and the country director of Millennium Challenge Corporation. I had asked for this meeting in order to explore possibilities for UDB to get involved in a research role in FOMILENIO's program in which they are in the process of installing nearly 2,000 off-grid solar electric systems in rural households. There seems to be genuine interest in working together on both sides, so hopefully this could turn into one of the first major projects for UDB's new energy institute. Reina from UDB says she will work on a formal proposal to do this. I'm glad to see other UDB people picking up the energy institute ball and running with it as I leave the playing field (for now).