Ghetto Boyz or Muni?

Ghetto Boyz
Originally uploaded by thegreatplotnik.

All through South Africa, combies like Ghetto Boyz above, seen on a street corner in Durban, are the means of transportation for most people. As you can see, Ghetto Boyz is in great shape. Most aren't. Many are death traps, but they're all cheap and fast. A boy sticks his head out the window and announces the route: "Sea Point! Sea Point!"

If you stand on the side of the road and raise your arm the combie screeches to a stop, the door opens, you step up, and off you go, squashed between a 300 pound woman and a kid coming home from school. The dominant language is Xhosa.

Today, The Great Plotnik took the 26- bus from the car service shop back to Plotnik World Headquarters and Meatball Kitchen. The ride was a mile and a half at most. The dominant language was Spanish. The riders were primarily women. One man in a wheelchair wore no pants but nobody seemed to notice. Two gangsters sat in the back playing Latino hip hop while everyone else refused to make eye contact.

Plotnik asked himself: Would he rather have waited half an hour for this plodding city bus, or hopped into a privately-owned combie that would have come along every two minutes, calling out "Plotnik World Headquarters! Plotnik World Headquarters!"...?

Of course, the guy in the wheelchair would have had to wait for the plodding city bus. The combies wouldn't have time nor hydraulic lifts, nor, maybe, brakes.

Still, it's a no-brainer. Ghetto Boyz or Muni? Ghetto Boyz every time.