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SUBWAY

Posted by esmeralda lewiit on January 13, 2010 at 11:30pm
I was thinking about something to write in here in English. Well, I decided to talk about the SUBWAY.First of all, let me set the picture. I'm a green person and I try to stay green. I take the bus or the subway, instead of driving my car (it`s on my "to do list" to get rid of it). Anyways, usually, I take the bus because it's faster and cheaper. It's less than 100 m from my house and it drops me less than 50 m from work. AND IT'S $ 1 REAL CHEAPER. The subway it's good when I feel like walking and walking on the sun, the sun of CERRADO, I'm not sure how to translate that. It's a dry hot weather typical of high altitudes. oh yeah, back to the subway. The subway here costs around R$ 3,00 (Brazilian currency) according to todays exchange rate it would be around $ 1, 72 US Dollars. I think it's expensive, specially because it only goes one way and because the brazilian minimum salary is around R$ 510,00 or US$ 292,45. Did I mention, I'm talking about the subway of Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, one of the biggest countries in America and the world?Well, the subways has two lines, Samambaia and Ceilandia, which are both located in the same area of the Federal District. Also, it only goes half way Brasilia, to the Central Station.see for yourself

Source: http://www.metro.df.gov.br/005/00502001.asp?ttCD_CHAVE=5198.Note: this is a map available at the subway website and it does not reflects the map of Brasilia. To get the real picture you need to look the second picture below.As you can see in the photo, if you live in the middle of the way, it doesn't matter which way you're going. It's kinda of funny, because most of the people goes of the subway at the exact same place which is the central station. I mean, from the station to midway, the people only go in the subway. After that the wagon is crowed until you hit the central station. Which most of the times means you'll have to take another transportation and, HELLO, pay again. If you take the "integration bus" you don't need to pay, true. very true. On the other hand, the BUS TICKET ONLY COSTS $ 2,00 REAIS. And yes there is traffic and yes it is crowed, YES THEY ARE A THREATEN TO THE ENVIRONMENT, especially because they are shitty buses falling into peaces. Actually they are filthy engines in a nice carcases.Sometimes, it's difficult to make a choice, the subway is ridiculous. The price for the service they provide it's outrageous AND LET's NOT TALK ABOUT CORRUPTION FOR NOW, SHALL WE? Second, the buses are so pollutant as cars or more, because they are second-handed, LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT CORRUPTION, PLEASE.I really dream about a non-pollutant public transportation.I still can't believe that Niemeyer and Lucio Costa, the comunists designers of Brasilia, the modernists influenced by Le Corbusier, could design a city from scratch and simply forget subways. BRASILIA IS 50 YEARS OLD. maybe it was budgetary issues... as usual... How old are subways? I don't know.

Source: http://www.brasil-turismo.com/distrito-federal/mapas-df.htmNote: the original design of Brasilia was of a butterfly, but many people refer to it as the airplane city. And the lake was not there originally. some small rivers, I think, were sweved to make that lake around the city.Well, I'm a hepless optimistic, I have to believe there is going to be one day a decent public transportation in my country. I still prefer to take the bus, I think is better than the car considering I'm sharing the CO2 emissions with lots of other people. But what I really wish for it's a different kind of transportation, I guess.That's all for now. next chapter will be dedicated to cultural diversity and the french exception clause.
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