As if Saudis don’t have enough banned behaviors, the traffic department now prohibits tinted bus windows preventing fewer women from using public transport.

Teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can count on costlier work commutes following the recent decision by the Traffic Department to ban tinted windows in school buses. Several bus companies that transport both schoolchildren and female teachers are complaining of lost profits as women educators ditch the buses in the aftermath of the ban.

In addition to protecting passengers from sun insolation, the tinted film provides the women with privacy as they travel long distances to their schools. Speaking from Taif, driver Hamdan Al-Khudaidi accused traffic police of repeatedly stopping school buses whose windows are tinted and slapping them with heavy fines.

“There has been a noticeable increase in inspections of buses carrying female teachers at checkpoints on both the Taif-Riyadh and the Southern roads which in turn causes teachers to be late for classes. Then there are repeated fines for tinting windows. This has forced many teachers to resort to alternative means of transportation,” he told the Saudi Gazette.

The lost ridership and fines cut into bus company profits, and resorting to personal transportation places a burden on the teachers who are prohibited by Saudi law from driving and must rely on a guardian to shuttle them to and from work.

“If things continue like this, many companies will have no choice but to close as bus owners and drivers are being issued tickets almost daily. Drivers are being pressured by teachers’ guardians to tint windows and the traffic police to stop the practice but who are we supposed to listen to?”

Banddar Al-Thumali, whose wife is a teacher, said male guardians are upset by the ban. He said authorities must find a solution that satisfies everyone.

“They need to figure this out. Perhaps the Traffic Department should create a database that contains the names and addresses of bus drivers in every transport company and the names and relevant information of teachers using buses. They can then issue special ID cards that can be used at police checkpoints,” he said.

Spokesman for the Traffic Department in Taif,  Major Ali Al-Malki said the ban was put in place for safety reasons and urged drivers to comply.

“Windows can be tinted but they should not prevent someone from seeing passengers in the vehicle from the outside. Anyone caught flouting the ban will face a minimum fine of $80 and a maximum fine of $134. Rules are in place for the safety and wellbeing of all,” he said.

Perhaps they can look north to their Jordanian neighbors, where buses have interior curtains that offer comparable privacy.

Image of Muslim woman without a ride by Shutterstock

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My bus is a small one, seats maybe 24.  It’s lightweight and nimble, one of hundreds cruising Jordan’s roads. Absent a reliable mass transit system, these little buses, which are provided by private schools and employers, serve a critical public service. And although I’m a sucker for public transportation, I do think about the risks.  The route from Jabal Amman to the airport is a straight run on modern roadways, well maintained and with proper traffic signaling.  That’s a good start.

But this town is pockmarked with building excavations, minimally protected from vehicles and walkers.  At one point in the commute, our bus runs along the rim of a man-made cliff, where our driver’s ill-timed sneeze could steer us 12 meters down into a hole were workers are progressing the Aqaba-Amman waterline and new airport highway.

Drivers leisurely roam between lanes. Pedestrians pass on the overhead walkway option and instead bolt across moving traffic.  Cars race along with hardly an inch of airspace between them. For added excitement, errant farm animals join the flow.

This afternoon’s knot of traffic was caused when a car hit a camel.  This, right in center city where you could grab a fast Frappaccino to sip while watching farmers put the poor thing’s leg in a makeshift splint; see the driver wail over her dented Mercedes.

I kid you not. I spotted the coffee-drinker, the weeping woman, and the limping camel as we crawled past the rubber-necking crowds.

Now for the video from Saudi Arabia, and drifting by a reckless bus driver.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDHi4Ik_zeI&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Green Prophet’s brought you stories about reckless Middle East driving, but this one above takes the shawarma.

Maybe it’s in honor of the upcoming Olympics?

A new Arab auto-sport emerges. The vehicular biathlon where drivers shoot AK-47s skyward (you hope) while slip-sliding their cars at breakneck speed is so “yesterday”.  Instead, rev up the idiotic thrills and “drift” a full bus.

Neither passengers, nor spectators seem concerned about probability of instant death, so it’s likely this insanity will escalate.

I haven’t found related stories to explain these images.  Is it staged?  Did the crazy carpool give group consensus?  Or was it the driver’s solitary choice to do this death defying dance?

I picture mild-mannered Hazem-the-driver pulling this stunt next Sunday morning as he brings us into work. I think I understand now why the buses all have curtains on their windows.

Image of Man Chasing Bus by Shutterstock

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According to local engineers, the public needs to show its support for Jordan’s ambitious Bus Rapid Transit to help it overcome political barriers

Over a year ago, we reported (with considerable excitement) that Jordan was planning to deal with the growing congestion of the capital city by establishing a new line of buses. These high-capacity buses would carry more than 120 passengers along exclusive bus lanes, and would operate every three minutes during peak time. The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) plans were aimed at reducing traffic along Amman’s busiest routes by improving public transport- a victory for the environment and common sense we thought.

However a couple of months before the project’s inauguration it was announced that the BRT plans have been shelved pending further review. There were murmurs that corruption had led to the project’s demise although officially, the project was halted due to ‘feasibility and funding concerns.’

In December, Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh referred the case to the justice ministry to investigate. Ayman Smadi, the director of the project acknowledged that there had been certain political factors behind the suspension of the project. Speaking to the Jordan Times, he explained that “there was huge pressure from Parliament to halt work on the project” and alleged that there were no valid technical reasons for doing so. He also added that the BRT project was being used as a “scapegoat” by those who wanted to attack Greater Amman Municipality’s management and certain deputies.

At a seminar held this week looking at the reasons behind the suspension of the project, several engineers insisted that the project was the city’s best option. They added that those in support of the project and the general public need to be more vocal in their support so that political barriers could be overcome.

“The right to transport is as essential as the right to healthcare,” said Mohammed Al Asadi, an architect specialised in urban planning who attended the seminar. Indicating his support for BRT, Asadi added that any public transportation strategy must include building a fast, comfortable and affordable mass transit system for all citizens.

:: Jordan Times

: Image via paalia/flickr.

For more on Jordan’s public transport issues see:

Jordan’s Ambitious Bus Plans Get Shelved

Jordan’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Set For 2012 Inauguration

Middle East Joins Worldwide Campaign for Greener Transport (PHOTOS)

The post Jordan’s Public Transport Plans Blocked By ‘Political’ Barriers appeared first on Green Prophet.

Working in a congested bus station, especially one like Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station is not conducive to one’s health. The toxic fumes created by the hundreds of buses that go in and out of this station, and all the free radicals in this air pollution is almost as bad as  “black cloud” infested Cairo Egypt, or Tehran Iran; where as many as 27 people die each day from air pollution .

A recent study was made by Israel’s Environment Ministry, and was reported afterwards in the Jerusalem Post. Findings? Pollution at this bus station includes high levels of ozone, sulfur dioxides, nitrous oxides and particulate matter made the level of pollution in the air four or five times greater than acceptable levels.

Entrance to Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station

The report found pollutants like nitrous oxide to be as much as 17 times what could be considered as “normal” – and this even was the norm at night, after the buses stopped running. It lingers.

This pollution problem is causing people working in the area to be subject to many life threatening diseases; especially those affecting the cardiovascular system.

According to Professor Menachem Luria, who teaches industrial hygiene at Hebrew University:

“If you just walk through for just a few minutes, it’s bad, but it’s not as bad as it is for people who work in those compounds”

Although the Egged bus cooperative is claiming to be making their buses more environmentally friendly, Prof. Luria remarked (regarding the buses’ green color) “the only thing green is the color of the buses”.

As a result Prof. Luria is calling the Jerusalem bus station “a very sick building.”

Judging from what is going one in many parts of the world, especially locations like Cairo and Teheran, things are getting bad in Israel too where free radicals from air pollution are so bad that people are warned not to do physically exerting exercising there like jogging or bike riding.

A physical deathtrap going in and finding your way out, even the much larger Tel Aviv Central Bus Station appears to be less polluting, possibly because the buses are parked outside and some filtration inside the building is being done by the building’s air conditioning systems. Wonder what the pollution in the nearby neighborhood is like?

Solutions to the problems here do not seem forthcoming. Although a number of ideas have been put forward, including the use of electric buses. But solutions like electric buses are still a long way off. Start lobbying your local governments for greener transportation, people.

::JPost.com: Bus station Photo by Michael Melech

More about regional air pollution issues:

Free Radicals Attack Your Brain in Polluted Cities

Why 27 People a Day Die From Air Pollution in Teheran

It’s Black Cloud Season Again in Cairo

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