ForKaren Delgado
The frequency with which we take public transport is undoubtedly abysmal. The most shocking aspect of the matter is how we lose the sum of our days in traffic jams and because of the distances that mobility in the city does not cover. It is enough to think about it in a numerical way to recognize the value of lost time. I will give, for example, the case of a person who moves five days a week and who can take at least one hour to travel there and another to return: a week is ten hours; forty hours per month and 480 hours per year. This is for the “lucky ones” who spend the least time of their lives on transportation.
These are considerable times if you think on a large scale. Since I am aware of this figure, I have taken advantage of public transport to do something other than wait. Many of those who use public transport dedicate themselves to listening to music, checking what's new on their cell phones, sleeping, eating, reading, among other activities, while the distances to reach their destination are shortened. What for many represents transportation for others is work. Day after day people get on to sell food, offering products, showing some instrumental skill. The scenario provided by public transport for this type of initiative is interesting. We can all be familiar with or have seen something the same or similar.
Public transport as a meeting of diverse realities
Nobody would rethink public transport as the epicenter of a meeting of diverse realities and as a simple example of a world of unequal competition. There is a face of permanent need that socially we prefer to ignore because it is easier to question the veracity of a stranger's story than to think about what happens if that person really finds himself facing a situation of need. Hiding xenophobia, classism, racism and aporophobia is much simpler in these terms.
In a country with a monetary poverty of 6.8 percentage points, with the unemployment rate at 13.7%, with poverty indices located in the 21 million people who survive with incomes of $331,688 pesos per month and another 7.5 million with $145,004 pesos per month and approximately 3.35 million unemployed, it would be worth questioning whether the problem lies in the people or in an entire system thought about the basis of job insecurity, the lack of guarantees for the vital minimum and in a State that cannot regulate the contradictions of the capitalist world.
Within transportation we can find all the spectrums that make up the average Colombian society. Among those that I have been able to observe the most during my tours have been: vendors, workers, office workers, senior citizens, students, among others. But, likewise, it should be remembered that there are cases of stalkers, rapists and criminals within transport. As a brief idea, I would like to say that to no one's surprise, public transport continues to be one of the places of greatest risk and exposure for women. The spectrum of a lower-middle class is consolidated in one place and gives rise to the interpretation of phenomena such as informality, crime, gender gaps, civic culture, competition, and the precariousness of life.
I can certainly say that cities are hostile. The foregoing leads me to contrast how in the same space reality develops in such a diverse way and it is these relationship dynamics with others that led me to think about this topic and to have something to say about it. This is not a moralistic polemic about always doing “the right thing”, to having a complex of saviors to try to solve the problems of an entire social class. It is a call to observe this silenced reality, to recognize how it affects us, to give visibility to a fight for survival. It is a call to empathy so that someone can answer. Where has conscience gone?
Indifference has lacerated us. That is why I believe in the importance of beginning to make visible structural problems from everyday life. Humanity cannot be attributed only to some while we treat others as beasts where we end up denaturing to the point of no return, that is, when we already feel alien and superior to others. The focus of who we direct our annoyed glances at has to change. We must make ourselves visible from otherness but not from opposites and polarization to achieve common goals, since we all want a life with stability and that we can meet our needs. So why not work together for it? We must always remember that we are also based on others and that this is what will really allow us to build a social fabric with dignity.
March 14, 2022
