On The Subject Of Traffic

[nlaruccia]

speaking of driving and cars...i HATE TRAPOS! i can't stand them, I'm at my wits end with those assholes!!!!! and i sware they are multi-plying like cockroaches! a few years back, there were way less, and you gave a tip, like a donation, now they demand a certain amount, like they own the place! grrrrrr, it pisses me off! last night i went to meet some friends for dinner in palermo hollywood, and there were at least 2 on every block, i went early parked the car, and the trapo says" te cuento, hoy cobramos 30 pesos", i was like, really? do you own this street? anyways i didnt pay him and found another parking, super annoying, i can handle traffic, aggressive drivers, but I'm soooo over trapos!!!!! i wish the city would do something!
im not into giving someone money, so they won't trash my car!

We need Rudolph Giuliana down here to clean the city up .Once there was a trapito with a huge stick that was threatening to bash in any cars whose owners hadn't given him $30 and I spent half an hour going around another block looking for another place to park. I prefer to leave my car in a garage and pay them, which is legal, rather than give money to the marfia de trapitos. It irks me to see how portenos just give in and pay them instead of looking for another parking spot, even it takes longer.

 

[khairyexpat]

i wish the city would do something!

I prefer to leave my car in a garage and pay them, which is legal, rather than give money to the mafia de trapitos.

I wish the city would invalidate their existence by installing parking meters on those spots.
They really are aggressive and violent in your face, pimps, living off the property of the city. Extortion and ransom in broad day light (they are not poor and have many options here ... unlike in some other countries where people are really trapped with no other options).

They kicked my car door with their boots in Mar Del Plata 2 years ago (my first encounter with Trapos), but luckily nothing much happened (the door must have had a good enforcement internally behind where they hit). That was at Luro & Maritimo. Now I avoid this spot, and go further .... Maritimo extends so much and there are lots of space.

 

[shoush]

yes! it irritates me so much that some portenos just pay! Apparently they work with the police, so i can't imagine any changes anytime soon! I agree about the garage or parking meters, I'm way more into paying something legal then those assholes!
Another annoying thing is when they actually wear uniforms, the bright yellow vests, as if they work for the city! i can go on for ages...they annoy the hell out of me!

 

[khairyexpat]

- A street car stops and opens its doors, what do you do?

A- Have platforms and signaled peatonal crossings for passengers.
B- Halt ALL traffic in EVERY possible direction, then dump passengers in the middle of the street,.

Answer is ( B ) in Toronto.

 

[khairyexpat]

yes! it irritates me so much that some portenos just pay! Apparently they work with the police, so i can't imagine any changes anytime soon! I agree about the garage or parking meters, I'm way more into paying something legal then those assholes!
Another annoying thing is when they actually wear uniforms, the bright yellow vests, as if they work for the city! i can go on for ages...they annoy the hell out of me!

I hope someday they solve this problem.
But for now, Trapos have the freedom to annoy extort and putiar me (if they can).
I have the freedom to walk/run away from it in one piece (if I can).
In Toronto, it is neither a joke nor an option. A Policeman is not going to let me walk away before he does his job (get a piece of me, and he absolutely can).
Like Frenchie said: it is a paradox.
For me, Sticks and stones hurt my bones, so do tickets.

I am saying all this from the point of view of a Retiree, just passing by time here.
If it were not for Toronto, Kitimat, Yellow Knife, Vancouver, Montreal, New Jersey, Kansas City, Tulsa, San Francisco, I would have never retired, not in a million years and definitely not in Argentina.
What are your priorities at a certain point in time and what are you willing to pay and put up with to get what?
Unless you were a Warren Buffet.

 

[French jurist]

I also love it when they drive with their left arm dangling from left window. Very curious, what is the purpose of this ritual? Help any one?

Easy to answer that one!
What can you do with your left arm while driving if you are not calling or texting someone?!

 

[jago25_98]

Easy to answer that one!
What can you do with your left arm while driving if you are not calling or texting someone?!

Nah. A guy in the UK taught me this one. you can see faces but you can see the arm. The arm is the face. Getting something outside the metal box really helps. Try it.

One reason why I moved away was the pollution. Sure it's very good around green spaces and loads of places in the world worse, but it's particularly bad in some areas. 8 lanes wide, 4+ avenues like this in a city. Better than Mexico city, worse than Europe.

 

[Sulacochilcano]

Better than Mexico city, worse than Europe.

That's about the best summation of Buenos Aires I have ever heard.

 

[GS_Dirtboy]

As crazy as the traffic seemed when I first got here it seems quit organized to me now. I've gotten over my righteous, "WTF is it so hard for you to drive in one lane? Why do you need two?"

I do skate much of Avenida Cabildo on a regular basis. Most of the bus drivers allow me to merge in between them and go with the traffic. This would never happen where I am from.

 

[khairyexpat]

Easy to answer that one!
What can you do with your left arm while driving if you are not calling or texting someone?!

Are we dismissing the possibility that the "bleeping explicit" might need it inside to get a handle on the thermo on his lap to pour some "mate" into the carved wooden thing setting on the dashboard and then carefully approach the "bombaya" ? (I know what u r thinking)

No seriously, why is that left arm dangling from that left window? .. This is killing me