Let's take a little moment to describe the concept of traffic and hora pico in Buenos Aires. Hora pico translates about into peak hour and it refers to when the public transit herer starts to get a little yucky. And by a little yucky I mean it would be nice if a polite Japanese man in white gloves helped press people into the car because it would hurt less than having a 30 yr old, sweaty argentine throw himself into the mob in hopes of compressing the crowd to a size that allows him in the traincar.
But when is hora pico? Well, contrary to the singular nature of the name, there is a multiplicity of hora picos.
Let's look at this logically. The first hora pico would be in the morning, because everyone has to get to work pretty much at the same time, so one hora pico at the beginning of the work day. I've heard that came be from about 6-8 (notice how hora pico is more than an hour). And, then, naturally, everyone gets out at the same time too, so there is another hora pico (the one I am most familiar with) from about 5-8.
But, if these people wake up, go to work and return from work about the same time, that all means they're gonna get hungry at the same time so mind you that there will be a little hora pico somewhere in the middle of the day as everyone skips over a few stops to find their favorite generic argentina restobarcafe. So, 12-2. We're already looking at three hora picos of considerable length.
Well, we're not done. There is also the hora pico that occurs when everyone gets out of high school at around 3 oclock and that lasts for about an hour or two. And, depending on the day there are going to be people going downtime to find a club or dinner or what have you that creates another hora pico at around 9 o clock at night that peters out until the subte closes at around 11.
When these poor bastards finish dinner and head over to another barrio for whatever, they'll pile onto the bus to create an hora pico there too. Overcrowding is hardly the most dangerous thing about the bus systems here so let's not get into that.
Instead, let's line up these hora picos that we do have.
6-8 Hora Pico
11-2 Hora Pico
3-5 Hora Pico
9-11 Hora Pico.
Observant readers may note that the subte spends about as much time in hora pico as it does in service. Prudent readers would challenge my numbers, being that it would be illogical to designate an period of time that is more than half of the overall schedule as irregular. However, I am good little anthropologist and I've kept good old cultural relativity in mind. I've therefore used the Argentine's opinion themselves as my definition of the hora pico. What I mean to say is that the above schedule was determined by a mental scatter plot of the occasions that the horrible press of humanity were blamed on big bad Hora Pico.
I wonder if the insane optimism reflected in the fact that Portenos believe that the inhumane conditions of their public transit is something that has a marked beginning or end rather than a permanent and famous feature or if this is something that can be found in every Meglopolis on the globe. Certainly spending a portion of every day with my nose embedded in the armpit of a tall, stanky foreigner (lo siento, senorita) would addle my brain until I was able to accept such a thing.
But when is hora pico? Well, contrary to the singular nature of the name, there is a multiplicity of hora picos.
Let's look at this logically. The first hora pico would be in the morning, because everyone has to get to work pretty much at the same time, so one hora pico at the beginning of the work day. I've heard that came be from about 6-8 (notice how hora pico is more than an hour). And, then, naturally, everyone gets out at the same time too, so there is another hora pico (the one I am most familiar with) from about 5-8.
But, if these people wake up, go to work and return from work about the same time, that all means they're gonna get hungry at the same time so mind you that there will be a little hora pico somewhere in the middle of the day as everyone skips over a few stops to find their favorite generic argentina restobarcafe. So, 12-2. We're already looking at three hora picos of considerable length.
Well, we're not done. There is also the hora pico that occurs when everyone gets out of high school at around 3 oclock and that lasts for about an hour or two. And, depending on the day there are going to be people going downtime to find a club or dinner or what have you that creates another hora pico at around 9 o clock at night that peters out until the subte closes at around 11.
When these poor bastards finish dinner and head over to another barrio for whatever, they'll pile onto the bus to create an hora pico there too. Overcrowding is hardly the most dangerous thing about the bus systems here so let's not get into that.
Instead, let's line up these hora picos that we do have.
6-8 Hora Pico
11-2 Hora Pico
3-5 Hora Pico
9-11 Hora Pico.
Observant readers may note that the subte spends about as much time in hora pico as it does in service. Prudent readers would challenge my numbers, being that it would be illogical to designate an period of time that is more than half of the overall schedule as irregular. However, I am good little anthropologist and I've kept good old cultural relativity in mind. I've therefore used the Argentine's opinion themselves as my definition of the hora pico. What I mean to say is that the above schedule was determined by a mental scatter plot of the occasions that the horrible press of humanity were blamed on big bad Hora Pico.
I wonder if the insane optimism reflected in the fact that Portenos believe that the inhumane conditions of their public transit is something that has a marked beginning or end rather than a permanent and famous feature or if this is something that can be found in every Meglopolis on the globe. Certainly spending a portion of every day with my nose embedded in the armpit of a tall, stanky foreigner (lo siento, senorita) would addle my brain until I was able to accept such a thing.
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"momentito"