Maxi-taxis, poda-podas, dala-dalas, tanka-tankas - whatever you want to call them, share taxis are often the dominant form of public transit in developing countries. It's somewhere between a bus and a taxi: privately owned vans or cars that stop anywhere along a semi-fixed route. They're often dangerously crowded and the cars themselves are in poor shape. In most (all?) developed countries share-taxis have been regulated out of business.
In many outer borough neighborhoods under served by public transit and saturated with immigrant entrepreneurs, "dollar vans" are a common sight. In Sunset Park, Brooklyn's far flung chinatown, I witnessed dollar vans cruising for passengers at bus stops on 8th Avenue. They run much more frequently than city buses and at half the price. Why don't I take them? Because I can't speak Cantonese.
Here's one from Flushing, Queens
Also: Buses in Nicaragua.
Are the private taxi/buses controlled? Do they have City licenses?
Posted by: Stickler Man | January 02, 2008 at 05:08 PM