Buses and Beaches

Public Transportation

There are four major forms of public transportation to get around Santo Domingo.

The OMSA's are the big buses which travel a set long route. The name comes from the government office which runs them--the Office of Metropolitan Bus Service in English. Since they are government subsidized, the fare is only 3 pesos (18 cents). There are set bus stops.

The Voladoras (aptly means "the flyers") are smaller buses (also called Guaguas). They are noted for having the cobrador (fare taker) hanging out of the door. His job is three fold. 1) Seeking out passengers 2) Taking fares 3) Helping to navigate through traffic by gesturing at cars when the bus is going to change lanes (usually multiple lane changes at once). Fare is usually 5 pesos (30 cents).

Fare for the pÏblicos (or "public" cars) is also 5 pesos. Normally these cars go straight up and down one of the major roads. There are no set stops. You can get in at any point simply by flagging one down by wagging a single finger pointed down. And once in, you can get out simply by asking the driver to stop. Most of them are compact cars, with Toyota Corolla's being very popular. Normal occupancy is 6 passengers. Four in back and two in front (plus driver). In the back seat, it is normal for the middle person on the driver's side to scoot forward because there is not enough hip room for all four people.

Cars with over 200,000 miles are not uncommon. Dominicans show incredible resourcefulness in keeping cars running for a very long time. Gas costs almost $2 dollars a gallon, so it takes a lot of fares to make any money, especially considering the frequent traffic jams during peak hours. Additionally, many drivers do not own the car, but instead pay a set daily fee to the owner for the use of the vehicle.

Motoconchas (one person motorcycle taxis) are also used, more so in the country side. Goshen College students do not use this mode of transportation because of safety issues.

The Beach

On Saturday Jan 19th, on the way to a beach outing, the group stopped at "Los Tres Ojos" (The Three Eyes), a set of large caves dotted by freshwater lagoons. The caves were only recently re-discovered in the 1950's. Earlier, they were used by the native Taino inhabitants for religious ceremonies.

At the beach, we played soccer and built a human pyramid. European charter groups fly straight to the commercialized beaches with luxury accomodations on the DR's north coast. But the beaches here on the south coast tend to be filled mostly with Dominicans.