Organization Could Help Panamanians Go Farther Faster, And More Safely

Today in America when we ask for directions somewhere, what we actually ask for is an address: a number, street name and city. Maybe an apartment number or a zip code too. We put the address into a server such as GoogleMaps or whatever smart phone map app our phone contains.

In Panama, the directions are a little different. When asking how to get somewhere, you might get an answer similar to “take a right five blocks after the bridge then turn left at the big tree on the side of the road”. Clearly, Panama needs a little bit of organization throughout its country.

Roads and traffic systems were not designed with the expansion and development of Panama in mind. These methods of traveling from one location to another are not proficient enough for the volume of traffic that is now occurring in the little country. For someone who comes from a country with much organization and regulation, like the United States, driving around Panama is no easy task.

Alexis Simoneau, Panama study abroad FSU student said that stop signs and rush hour made her the most nervous. “Red [lights or traffic] does not mean you have to stop for opposing traffic like here in America,” Simoneau says. A stop sign, for example, is translated as more of a “suggestion” than a rule for Panamanians.

After mixing blatant disregard for traffic laws with rush hour traffic in the city, you can imagine the outcome to be pretty much chaos. Rush hour traffic is at its peak from 4 to 7 and there’s no escaping it anywhere in the city. Traffic jams or “tranques” are something many Panamanians loathe yet have learned to deal with despite the hastle.

On any given evening after 10 or so, it may only take 15 minutes to get from the center of the city in Marbella to the regional airport in Tocumen. Now, if you dare travel between the hours of 4 and 7 (as many do regardless of what they know to expect) it’s bound to get stuck for at least 2-3 hours in the Cinta Costera and Corredor Sur roadways that become temporary parking lots.

          
          Figuring out how to move people around a country is something that needs to be done with consideration for the future. Panama is in the process of becoming a developed country as well as an international travel destination, the country itself needs to figure out how to help its inhabitants get from one destination to another in an orderly fashion. 

Panama Makes Changes in Public Transportation: from Red Devils to an Official Metro System

Public transportation in Panama is based on a fleet of cabs and red busses otherwise known as “diablo rojos”. Both of these methods have large downfalls. The cabs are sketchy and overpriced and the busses are scary due to a lack of cleanliness and safety.

Gringos (Caucasions er “not panamanians”) often experience “Gringo Taxes,” mostly with cabs. Taxistas (taxi drivers) charge natives less than a dollar to get from one side of the city to the other while Gringos are charged a minimum of 3 dollars. In comparison to taxis in the United States and other developed cities of the world, that’s ridiculously cheap, however it is still unfair that non-Panamanians are constantly discriminated against. This 3 dollar rate can be raised as high as 8 to 10 dollars for the same one dollar ride a native would receive.

Alexis Simoneau, FSU study abroad student gives American travelers advice, “You can’t always trust the cab drivers. There are instances where they rob you or drive you the wrong way in an effort to charge you more. Young girls are NOT to take cabs alone. You shouldn’t really go anywhere alone in Panama. Maybe during the day, but certainly not at night.”

In comparison, busses are the same price for everyone: 25 cents (to get across the city). They are usually not the preferred mode of transportation because they are normally packed and gringos get stared at and robbed/pick-pocketed. There are 2 kinds of busses in Panama: the city’s “Metro Bus” which are clean and usually follow road rules (these are less common to find) and “Diablo Rojos” or “Red Devils.” The Diablos are old United States school busses that are, in fact, very old and usually have several problems and are used until they break down. “I’ve heard stories of them just blowing up out of no where,” Simoneau says. Diablo drivers are known to not follow road rules, speed, cut lanes and race other Diablos to the bus stops to compete for passengers.

A report of the Authority of Transit and Ground Transport (ATTT) found that the second leading cause of death in Panama is transportation related. The report indicates that more traffic tickets were issued for speeding than for anything else. According to Panamanian bloggers, there is a general perception that speeding is the primary cause of accidents in Panama.

According to a Ditcher & Neira survey of 1,216 people, 36,1% attributed speeding as the main cause of the accidents; 30% said alcohol; and 26% driver negligence. There are more than 30,000 accidents every year, which leave at least 400 died and 10,000 wounded. 95% of the accidents are attributed to human error, and 5% to technical or mechanical malfunction.

The Panamanian government is working on building a metro (subway) system. This should increase the safety of travelers in Panama and decrease the traffic issues on the roads. The project is said to be completed in 2014 and will be the first subway system in Central America.

"Diablo Rojo", one method of public transportation in Panama. 

Century and a half old canal remains to be newsworthy

The Panama Canal is currently Panama’s biggest claim to fame in the topic of international news. As the country itself is located between two oceans, it automatically has a strategic advantage for oceanic traffic and industrial development. The commotion surrounding the engineering of the Panama Canal is something that began in the late 19^th century and continues to be a topic of news almost 150 years later.

Today, the Panama Canal Expansion project team is working to meet a goal of completing the installation of a third lock to the structure, essentially enabling more transits and bigger ships to pass through. When I asked my diplomat, Alexis Simoneau, to give me her inside take on the newsworthiness of the expansion project, I received this response.

I can tell you that one of Rick Scott’s initiatives in his governance is to expand Florida’s ports because of the expansion of the Canal which is kind of interesting I guess.

Since I’ve been home, one of the questions people most often ask me about Panama is if I got to see the Canal. I expected to hear this question a lot. I lived in old Fort Clayton which is an old US military base from back when the US ran the canal and the city I lived in was literally right across the street and within visible distance of the Miraflores locks. The Miraflores locks are the first set of locks for ships coming in from the Pacific side of the Canal and the last set of locks for ships coming out from the Caribbean side. As I walked to school, I would watch the massive barges and occasional cruise ships sail past me. Depending on which classroom I was in, I could also watch the ships pass through while sitting in class avoiding paying attention to my professors.

There are these really cool machines/cars/tugboat things that ride along tracks and they weigh a lot and they literally carry these MASSIVE barges through the locks.

Don’t really know what else to say about the Canal.

As this was not exactly the response I expected, here are some fun facts readers may not know about the Panama Canal:

1. Approximately 40 ships pass through the Panama Canal each day, 14,000 each year.

2. The cheapest fare paid to pass through the canal was by Richard Halliburton on August 23, 1928. As he swam his way across, his charge was determined by his body weight (150 lbs) which cost him 36 cents.

3. The locks on the canal that enable it to open and close are 7 feet thick.

4. The Panama Canal sees a gross income of over $3 billion each year.

Judging by the last fact, it is no wonder the Panamanian government is so concerned with expanding their prized possession. The Panama Canal provides its country with over $800 million dollars a year in pure profit and allows for the passing through of 5 percent of the worlds international trade.

Panama Canal