weyland
01-19-2008, 09:41 AM
Two items from DR1 make interesting reading when put together:
1) The motorbike taxi, or 'motoconcho' is the leading transportation method in the country, according to Marino del Rosario Caraballo, director of the National Motoconcho Office (Onam). According to del Rosario, 632,000 people are registered as motoconcho taxi operators. He estimates that another 400,000 could be providing the service informally, bringing the total to about a million providers.
2) According to National Statistics Office director, Pablo Tactuk, there are 9.7 million registered Dominicans and this number should reach 10 million by 2010. Tactuk added that this figure did not include the number of Haitians in the country.
That means that around 9% of adults are acting as motoconchistas, plus a substantial number driving taxis and working on other public transport.
I can believe this. I remember when I first got off the bus in Imbert, a typical small town. A few shops and cafés, with maybe 20 people in sight, but a forest of maybe 50 or 60 motoconchos waiting for fares. I have never understood how it can be worth their while. There just don't seem enough passengers around.
On my brief visits to Santiago and Santo Domingo I was surprised by how relatively few motoconchos there were in the city centres. I don't even remember seeing them working for hire in the main streets, although I may not have noticed or may have forgotten. I realise they are active in the side streets and barrios, of course.
1) The motorbike taxi, or 'motoconcho' is the leading transportation method in the country, according to Marino del Rosario Caraballo, director of the National Motoconcho Office (Onam). According to del Rosario, 632,000 people are registered as motoconcho taxi operators. He estimates that another 400,000 could be providing the service informally, bringing the total to about a million providers.
2) According to National Statistics Office director, Pablo Tactuk, there are 9.7 million registered Dominicans and this number should reach 10 million by 2010. Tactuk added that this figure did not include the number of Haitians in the country.
That means that around 9% of adults are acting as motoconchistas, plus a substantial number driving taxis and working on other public transport.
I can believe this. I remember when I first got off the bus in Imbert, a typical small town. A few shops and cafés, with maybe 20 people in sight, but a forest of maybe 50 or 60 motoconchos waiting for fares. I have never understood how it can be worth their while. There just don't seem enough passengers around.
On my brief visits to Santiago and Santo Domingo I was surprised by how relatively few motoconchos there were in the city centres. I don't even remember seeing them working for hire in the main streets, although I may not have noticed or may have forgotten. I realise they are active in the side streets and barrios, of course.