Traffic

Tuesday, January 22 – Day 34

The traffic is pretty interesting here. There are several ways to get around the city, and most people walk, take the colectivo (bus), or the Subte (short for subteranio). Of course, there’s a lot of auto traffic, and a lot of motos (motorcycles – scooters, really, as they are rarely larger than 250 cc’s).
Traffic lights go from red, to red and yellow, and then to green. This allows the drivers on the front line to do a brake-press and start revving the engine up before the green. Kind of like the start of a Formula 1 race. Both the traffic light and the sound of the revving engines are signs for the pedestrians to get out of the way. Oh yeah, they have the pedestrian signals with the little green man that lights up, and in the rest of the civilized world, this indicates that it’s your turn to cross the street. Here in BA, this light is simply a suggestion that there will probably be fewer cars driving through the cross walk while it’s lit.

Believe it or not, many intersections simply have no signage whatsoever – no light or stop-sign. One of my Spanish teachers said that the leading cause of death in BA is an accident involving a motorized vehicle. We all laughed a bit, but she was serious. She said that more people die from being hit by a car or bus, than die from cancer or heart disease. A lot of motorcyclists die also. They have a helmet law here, but it’s loosely interpreted to mean that you just have to have a helmet with you. I’ve seen a lot of them strapped to elbows and knees. It’s always fun to watch the light turn at a major intersection because all the motos split the lanes and come right to the front of the starting grid. When it goes to yellow, all the little engines start to rev, and on the green, they all take off like a swarm of bees. They use their horns a lot just to make noise because the auto drivers never use their mirrors or look for them. They just change lanes whenever they want. The motorcyclist never wins that one.

I’ve seen one Porsche and one Mercedes while I’ve been here. Maybe it’s because all the wealthy people are on vacation for the month, or maybe it’s because they have a 58% import tax on vehicles. A US$90,000 Porsche, therefore, costs about US$142,000 by the time it gets to your driveway. That’s a little over $450,000 pesos. In the news this week, a local newspaper discovered that foreign diplomats, who are allowed to import cars without paying the import tax, brought in about 100 Porsches, Hummers, and other vehicles, that are being driven about by other businessmen, sports figures, and celebrities. One businessman was found to driving around in a new Lamborghini that was imported by a Bolivian diplomat at a registered value of $60,000 pesos (about US$16,000).

The Subte is really interesting. Costs about US$0.30 US per ride. It runs from 5:00 am to 11:00 pm, and from what I can see, is very efficient. The Argentines have never been known to be on the leading edge of a capital maintenance programs, so the stations do look a little scary, but I’ve never had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a train, and there’s almost always room to get on the train. The A Line has cars that must have been built in the 1920’s. They are clearly worn, but are really quite striking. They have beautiful dark original woodwork, including lattice seats, and also appear to have all their original hardware including exposed incandescent light bulbs with glass shades. For some reason, they seem to appreciate the cars - none of the wood is carved up by vandals and none of the glass is broken. That's pretty cool.

The picture here doesn't have anything to do with traffic. I just thought it was a good example of an under-improved property.