Apparently the bus fares rose in price this past Saturday, but I just found out today because 1: it's Nicaragua and news often travels slowly and there's a lot of misinformation, and 2: because I haven't been on a bus this week (besides the school bus but that's free for teachers). Anyway, the ministry of transportation approved a 10% increase, but the bus drivers and their associations took it upon themselves to make that 15%+. Well, isn't that nice. I do realize that gas prices are rising as well and that an increase in fares is a fair thing to do, but they are increasing the prices way too much to support clientele. Buses are cheap here, BUT, if you take them everyday for work, buying food, etc. AND if you have a very lowing pay job (if you have a job), then it gets expensive. The price that I usually pay to go to Managua is c$30 (approximately $1.30), which is not too bad, but the price was just raised to c$40 (approx. $1.74). That extra c$10 can buy someone many things that they will now miss out on, such as: a pound of beans/rice, a taxi ride anywhere in town, 3 eggs, 10 tortillas...you get the point. It seems very small at first, but in reality, that's huge for a family (or a single) here.
I'm certainly glad I walked to and from school this morning instead of spending c$10 to get there and c$10 to get home. I didn't even know about the price change this morning though, but I'm sure glad I decided to not be lazy today! It's unfortunate though because some days I actually have to take a taxi in order to get from one school to the other on time. Well, I'm going to try my best to walk to and from school when I can and take the free bus if possible (I usually do in the mornings when I have class).
No comments:
Post a Comment