Riding the Bus
There is one major difference between the US and Brazil when it comes to riding the bus, and it’s one that surprised even Mr. Spock in Star Trek IV when he asked, “What is exact change?”
It must be in part because of the availability of cheap labor, but in addition to the bus driver, there is another person who sits in the front whose job is to take money and to make change.
That’s great!
I had an experience similar to Mr. Spock’s when I rode the bus as a kid and went to the comic book store. It was shocking to me that I had money and I couldn’t ride. Was this even America? I think this is one reason that there’s a stigma about riding the bus in the states among some. If you don’t know what it costs, exactly, or don’t have the right combination of coins, you risk getting tossed off like a fool.
And it’s good here, because they just raised the price from R$2.00 (that’s two reals, a little more than a dollar) to R$2.10. You can still ride if you don’t have a 10 centavos coin, although you will get hit with 90 centavos change, but you still get to ride.
I remember people in the theater in the U.S. laughing at Spock’s line. People in Brazil likely didn’t understand what happened any better than he did.
Tags: bus
September 28th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
and if they don’t have the right change they either add up or go down - same in the grocery stores. In the states there is always change in the markets. Here I tend to get really irritated if they ask if I have smaller change - I have started to carry a small change bag which I keep filled with ‘troca’
December 29th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
And how do you like riding the bus? Would you rather to drive your own car?