This is pasted out of wikipedia... to try to give you all a better grasp of the "combi culture" here in peru... my thoughts follow at the end.
Combi culture
Micro and especially combi drivers are known for being irrespectful of traffic rules, and are extremely aggressive in soliciting for new passengers. They will stop at any part of the streets to pick up passengers and will race other micro drivers to be able to get more passengers. This, combined with the lack of vehicle maintenance, the low prices, salsa, cumbia and reggaeton music on the radio and the overall relaxed feeling in the micros, has created the so-called "combi culture", which today is a synonym of the quasi-clandestinity in which they operate (route registration by Lima Province City Hall is generally lax, and many routes overlap). Few ads are provided by these stickers, although some humorous stickers parody known commercial logos.
The "Micro" is an inexpensive way to travel. A short trip costs only one Sol (in dollars, One Sol is equivalent at ~0.28). The most famous combi route in Lima is the S route. It goes from Callao or Ventanilla to Ate or Chorrillos".
Micros race from one street corner to another along all the major arterial city roads. Stickers saying, for example, "Todo Arequipa" or "Todo Benavides" can be seen on their windscreens, which indicates that the micro runs the whole length of Avenida Arequipa or Avenida Benavides. These microbuses dash dangerously fast, frequently crashing and speeding off before their passengers have got both feet into the vehicle. There being few bus stops, micros and combis pick and drop passengers anywhere along their route (although it is not allowed).
......... and i figured out something new about combis today. So there are men (sometimes women) that are cobradores and collect fares when you get on. They hang out of the windows and yell at people to get on or off and where the combi is going. Then there are these people who we always pass on the streets.. the cobradores will pay them like 50 sol cents and they tell the cobradores how many combis with the same route have passed recently in front of them... THEN THE RACE IS ON!!!!! because once they have this information the drivers race eachother to get more passengers.. and more money. this is ONE part of the explanation as to why traffic in this crazy city is SO hectic and dangerous...
and here, i googled and found an excerpt from someone else's blog worth sharing..
2. It is less safe. Lima's transportation system basically has three elements: taxi cabs, private buses, and private cars. Most people in Lima can only afford to take the private buses known as combis.
Since combis are basically private businesses, it is in their interest to move down the streets as quickly as possible. They race with other combis in hopes of being the first to arrive where a group of people is standing. In short, they want to pick up the bulk of the passengers.
Each combi has a driver and a person who stands in the door. The person standing in the door rushes people in and out of the combi, and knocks on the side of the combi when everyone is inside the bus, regardless of whether or not they are safely standing or seated. He or she then walks through the bus (if there's time), collecting the fare and distributing small insurance tickets. These little slips of paper are important if the combi crashes.
There are even individuals who work as informal statisticians, tracking in real-time how many combis have recently passed by certain stops. They sell their information to combis in quick 10 second transactions. I've started to wonder if these people could be employed to improve Lima's transportation system, but I've yet to figure out how.
As a passenger, once you are on the combi, you must be vigilant with your belongings. Obviously, the nicer dressed you are the more of a target you might become for thieves.
So this is the context for why Lima's buses are less safe. Alicia needs to dress nicely for work, and feels like she is more of a target in this context, and I agree. While it certainly doesn't happen all the time, on Monday when my wife traveled home she said that the combi nearly crashed, throwing everyone against the wall of the bus.
When you are on a combi, you are more or less forced to suck in the fumes as you travel. This is needless to say given the context, a big health hazard. (to go along with this... 3. Lima has some of the worst air pollution in the world. The World Health Organization claims that Lima has an average level of air pollution nine times higher than what is considered to be acceptable for healthy living. Lima has even recently required traffic officers to wear gas masks. Used cars are thought to be responsible for 86% of the air pollution in Lima and the average car is about 18 years old.)
i found an older blog from a student in my same program.. she sums up combis pretty well:
Combis are one of the most distinctive aspects of life in Lima, and I’ve put off writing about them because I wasn´t sure how to explain them. I think the closest analogy I can come up with is they are like a very small subway car that barrels along on a winding track. The feeling of being thrown against a window or a fellow rider is best conveyed by that…but it still doesn´t capture the combi experience. First of all, a combi is above ground, running on regular city streets among cars, bikes, pedestrians, and other forms of public transportation. That means two things: 1. You can see exactly how close you come to hitting people, curbs, and various giant trucks, and 2. the swerving is not guided by a track; instead it is dictated by all the other traffic and by people standing out on the side of the road waving their arms to get a combi to pick them up.
A combi looks like a small van, but one that´s been painted outside with stripes, street names, and occasionally religious slogans, and decorated inside with stickers, ornaments, and occasionally lights. It´s sometimes sort of rounded on the sides, so the tall rider sitting near a window has to tilt her neck away from the wall to avoid hitting it at every small bump. It generally looks like it originally could fit twelve or so people, but has been modified to fit about 20 by adding extra seats, and even a bench behind the driver where people sit/balance facing backward. There are also coasters, which are bigger than combis, and then there are micros, which are the size of school buses and have different rules about paying and stopping. I usually take combis because they´re convenient for getting to the university, and generally wherever I want to go.
When you want to take a combi somewhere you just go stand by the side of the road. If you see one you want passing by, you stick out your arm and it slams on the breaks so you can get on, and then jumps forward the second you´re mostly off the sidewalk. Apparently the police are cracking down on the combi drivers for stopping to pick up and drop off people at random places, so sometimes if you´re not at a designated stop the combis will just speed on by until you get the idea and move to a stop.
After you´ve gotten on the combi, at some point the cobrador will shake some coins at you and ask you to pay. He (or she) is the person on the combi who opens and closes the door, tells the driver when people want to get off, yells out the window where the combi is going, and is in charge of collecting money. I generally overhear, per combi-ride, 1-2 arguments with the cobrador about fares or routes, occasionally pretty intense ones. I´ve only argued twice, and was super-proud to win one of them! (I saved a whole 30 soles–about 10 cents. But it was the principle of the thing!)
When you want to get off of the combi you tell the cobrador, (¡baja!) he relays the info to the driver, and when the combi swerves toward the curb (or just stops in the middle of the road) you squeeze your way over knees and under elbows and half-jump half-fall down to the street.
this is what combis look like when they pick you up.. the cobrador greets you shouting out where he's going..
this is more like how they look during rush hour on my way home from school...
and this is what the front of MY combi that i have to take everyday looks like.. tell me this doesn't look like a creeper van...
MY THOUGHTS... this has been one of the biggest adjustments in my study abroad experience... public transportation. i've been told people leave Lima loving them or hating them and i have to admit i may miss the combis come my return home. i feel so proud every time i manage a successful combi ride!! i've learned to love the micro S compared to the bigger busses... crammed in there with all kinds of people, sometimes arguing with cobradors who try to rip me off (despite its only a few cents, its the principal of the matter) standing in a crowd on the side of a street trying to tag down an S combi with an open seat, the mix of reggaeton music, gaudy catholic decor and religious slogans, mix of classes of people, hitting my head and jamming my knees with every turn and pot hole... yeah, gonna miss it. i think some of the best stories my friends and i here could tell would start with "so one time i was on the combi..." SO TRUE.
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