THE ARGENTINE "COLECTIVO" BUS HISTORY. There are so many stories about the beginning of th
First of all the Argentine “Colectivo” is considered as an Argentine invent, it was made specifically in Buenos Aires city in 1901. And increased their number from sixteen to 377 ones, in less than five years. Mostly this kind of vehicle had taximeter to measure their route. Because they lacked the technology of today, they suffered so many mechanical failures and irregularities. But with the passing of the years they were developing and getting a better service.
Because the regular buses, taxis decrease their demand dramatically, people preferred go to their destination by bus because it had more than 20 seats, they were even double-decker, wich were imported from England plus it had the ability to carry standing passengers as well, and the most important thing it was cheaper.
So a man called Don Diego had a great idea for taxi drivers, he converted taxis in minibuses, in this way a good quantity of passengers traveled to the same destination at a lower price. They started to become more popular than any vehicle, each Argentine “Colectivo” had five seats for five passenger and they were running every four minutes, and each one had a number on the car, wich was picked freely by each driver.
The Argentine “Colectivo” characteristics
They were ordered in special and diverse parades, having an inspector who helped them to keep the order and the right time between them.
They reached the most remote cities in less time and lower cost.
The Argentine “Colectivo” was a great resource for the country, and it was a big plus in the economy.
They had a sign on the windshield and Argentine flags on the hood of the car, making the vehicle more attractive.
They were faster than regular buses, so people rather to travel by this “colectivo”. Another facility for the passenger was that the “colectivo” could stop anywhere, this last facility had a lot of complains by business’ cars, buses and more.
Timeline of Argentine “Colectivo”
Taxi “Colectivo”
They were created between the years of 1928 and 1930, and they had the taximeter that indicated the mileage. Mostly this vehicle had five seats plus transportines seats for two more passenger and standing passengers was forbidden.
“Colectivo” cars.
They existed from 1930. The taxi “colectivo” was very popular and because there were not enough some of regular car owners decided to drop out the taximeters, they modified their automobiles, and decided to enlarge the size of their cars to gain extra rows of seats so more people could travel. The people who had more money replaced the soft top for metal roofs. It was a boom, everyone wanted to travel by the Argentine “Colectivo,” so in a short time there were no taxis because all of them became “Colectivo.”
But according to many people the service was very demanding and as time passed it was very difficult to keep going because there were not enough numbers of “Colectivos,” so sadly their duration was brief.
Over time the five or seven seats of the Argentine “Colectivo” were not enough so the owners enlarged the cars even more, increasing the number first at 10 seats and in the '30s they became more like an Argentine “Colectivo” bus since the number of the seats were from 17 to 36. In this way they could be a great competition for ordinary buses, with the difference they were forbidden to have standing passenger.
Over the years these Argentine “Colectivo” buses became regular buses because their great capacity and great demand from the people. It was easier taking 36 or 50 passengers in one round than spending more time and energy taking five or ten passenger at the same location.
So this is the real story how the Argentine “Colectivo” appeared and how they stopped working for long time, without doubt it was the pioneer in vehicle mobility for so many countries, wich followed their example, especially in Latin America.
