Research Questions/Intro
My research kit is about transportation in El Salvador. This research kit explores how much research there is on the history of urbanization here compared to other regions of Latin America. There is a current trend in global cities to move beyond the use of cars by expanding upon public transportation. San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, faces many challenges related to public transportation. How has the lack of evolving in travel in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador affected urbanization in this country? How safe is urban transportation, for women and queer people in San Salvador, which is known for having a patriarchal gender system and often times, a macho (extremely masculine) culture that discriminates against women and the LGBTQ community?
Photo by Rafael Cañenguez on Unsplash
Narrative/Overview
The purpose of this research kit is to explore transportation and the lack of evolving in San Salvador, El Salvador. As well as how different marginalized groups like women, and the queer community has developed different techniques to safely move across the city. Despite El Salvador being an incredibly small country compared to the rest of Central America, there is a large population making it an interesting and diverse country to study on all topics. With transportation being such an integral part of everyday life the author thought it’s an interesting country to study and learn about as it is often looked over for the larger South American countries.
Transportation is a major part of people’s everyday lives in El Salvador, as moving around the country has become incredibly difficult without motorized vehicles to help. The central part of San Salvador where the local market stands is walkable, however to access different parts of residential areas as well as further locations people must take some form of motorized transportation like ‘el autobus’,taxis, or a car. The population in San Salvador currently stands at 1 million, and the majority of these people do not own personal vehicles. With the development and expansion of Uber, this has also joined the other two options in being a way to transport yourself in El Salvador, however crime and violence is a major fear. A lot of the older generations of salvadorans do not trust getting into a strangers car, taxi or not because of increased gang violence and extortion. Autobuses have always been the norm for transportation in El Salvador, these buses however are used as a place for opportunities for gang members to rob and extort the people riding as well as the drivers. Extortions towards the drivers commonly referred to as “la renta”, have caused strikes and riots in
the capital city in 2015 because of the fear of not being able to use transportation without being robbed at the stop, or on the bus. In 2022, President Nayib Bukele discovered there was corruption amongst autobus owners and removed all the bus owners involved and imprisoned them. However, this then caused thousands of people to not have a means of transportation so there were military soldiers dispatched to run the usual routes as a replacement. According to La Prensa Grafica, a newspaper published in El Salvador where I found a lot of my sources, some of the fares paid by civilians to public transportation was also returned as the discovery of the bus owners was made.
Another major problem
in transportation in El Salvador is the influx of foreign cars in the small country. The rise of imported cars in El Salvador rose significantly in recent years, from 1999-2022 which is the timeline this research kit focuses on. So much so that the cars being imported were causing major traffic in San Salvador because the main roads were not prepared for the amount of cars that began to be imported. The Salvadoran government then imposed a regulation that no motor vehicles older than 8 years were allowed to enter the country. This ruined the chances of safe individual transportation because many families in San Salvador can not afford a new car to send.
The transportation crisis in El Salvador was being publicized enough that the United Nations decided to begin a project for women to safely be able to tr
ansport themselves. In th
e reports they made they found as many as 69% of women as well have reported how they feel unsafe using public transportation. 54% of women in San Salvador reported having been victims of acts of violence on public transportation. These numbers are staggering because the capital doesn’t offer anything else for means of getting from one place to the other. Improvements by the UN have been made to some bus stops including: offering lighting, and comfortable benches to wait, as well as building awnings so the stops look more official.
However, there is room for more improvements in San Salvador transportation as well as grounds for research. There should be improvements with autobuses allowing different forms of payments so cash is not carried around as much, this could prevent robbing and extortion from gang members. Encouragement of traveling groups like carpooling and carpool lots, could also reduce traffic and the amount of buses and cars on the road, as well as having safety in numbers.
Primary Sources Annotated Bibliography
Flores, J. “Women Free of Violence in Public Transportation”. United Nations (vol 3) newsletter. https://elsalvador.un.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Newsletter%203-%20Women%20Free%20of%20Violence%20in%20Public%20Transportation_2.pdf
This primary source discusses how the United Nations decided to come to El Salvador after realizing how much danger there is in transportation for women. It discusses the goals of the trip as well as how they completed it successfully.
Ramos, K. “Transportation in El Salvador. What you need to know!” (2022). El Salvador info. info.https://elsalvadorinfo.net/transportation-in-el-salvador/
A summary from a traveler about the best transportation and what to avoid.
Secondary Sources Annotated Bibliography
Lohmuller, M. “Insecurity Persistent Problem for El Salvador Public Transit”. Insight Crime (2015). https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/insecurity-persistent-problem-el-salvador-public-transit/
Insight on why and how problems occur in public transportation.
Ramsey, G. “El Salvador Buses Strike Against Extortion Rackets”. Insight Crime (2015). https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/el-salvador-buses-strike-against-extortion-rackets/ Extortion during the 2015 riots
Tobar, Z. “Soldiers driving public transportation in El Salvador”. La Prensa Grafica (2022). https://www.elsalvadorsolidarity.org/soldiers-public-transport/
A newspaper from El Salvador speaking about the military intervention in transportation.
Izadi, E. “Driving a bus is a “death sentence” in El Salvador’s capital city”. The Washington Post (2015).
Bus drivers extortion and deaths because of gangs.“
El Salvador launches new Urban mass Transit System”. Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (2015). https://cispes.org/blog/el-salvador-launches-new-urban-mass-transit-system
President Nayib is looking to make new transportation for the people of el salvador.
Bonello, D and Williams, C. “Gang killings of bus workers freezes San Salvador’s transportation system” (2015). Los Angeles Times.
Glossary
El Autobus: remodeled american school buses that have been imported to central and south america. Commonly greyhounds from the 60’s, these buses are remodeled on the inside and painted into specific colors for different cities. They are now used as public transportation in San Salvador.
Renta or La renta: extortion by gang members where each month drivers have to pay a fee to enter certain barrios or colonias, in san salvador.
MS-13: The largest gang in El Salvador
Barrio 18: the second largest gang in EL Salvador and Ms-13 rival
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