How to Tap-Tap

[bcholmes]

Every day, I take three or four tap-tap rides to get to and from Fonkoze. Tap-taps are public transportation, here. They're all privately owned and operated, but they run on fixed routes, and have fixed prices.

The first picture on the Wikipedia page shows what a typical tap-tap looks like. It's a pick-up truck with a raised cover on the back. There's usually a bit of an extension at the back (with something of a metal step built into it). On the inside, there are benches on the two sides, and each of these benches typically seats about six people, but I've seen seven people per bench fairly often. Often one or two people can sit beside the driver in the front of the cab, and more often than not, someone will be standing on the back step, holding on to the back for much of the trip. People can also stand in the area between the two benches, but it's rare as you'd spend the whole trip hunched over.

There seems to be three systems for calling for a stop. Several of the tap-taps have an opening between the driver's cab and the back area, and you can shout out "mesi, chofè!" and the tap-tap will pull over to the side of the road. They you hafta squeeze your way past people to get off of the tap-tap, and wander over to the driver's cab to give the driver your money. A lot of tap-taps cost 7 gourdes, although I take one that costs 8 gourdes as well. A tap-tap that goes up to Petyonvil costs 10 gourdes.

But some tap-taps have a glass window between the driver's cab and the back compartment, and in those cases, you call out to the person closest to the front of the vehicle to tap on the glass window (I suspect that this is where the term "tap-tap" originates). There are some weird cases where there's a metal grill between the back compartment and the window, and the vehicle will usually have a pen or a stick tied to the grill so you can poke it through the grill and tap on the glass. Some tap-taps have gone high-tech, and they have a buzzer installed, but more often than not these set-ups are broken. And you still hafta call out to the person nearest the buzzer button to get them to push it.

More often than not, recently, the driver has a buddy who collects money. During most of the trip, the money-taker sits beside the driver, receiving the money from passengers and making change (if possible). When the tap-tap is nearing the end of the route, the money-taker gets into the back of the vehicle and collects everyone's money just before the end of the ride (I guess when you have a lot of people getting off at a busy corner, it's easy for someone to sneak away without paying). I've usually been able to get change when I haven't had exact change, but there's no guarantee of this. And while they can usually change a twenty gourdes note (the 20 is new, actually) or a fifty gourdes note, anything much larger is really pushing it.

There's usually good airflow in tap-taps, so I don't find them hot or stuffy. They're crowded, but not horribly. (Despite the joke: "How many Haitians can you fit in a tap-tap?" "One more!") And I confess that I find them a lot of fun.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Reminds me of the jitneys in Manila, color wise.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

I loved the tap-taps.

I also loved the way that people would help each other out - they would hold onto people who were balancing on the back step so they wouldn't fall, or take parcels (or children!) so that others could climb aboard safely.