There Almost was Such a Thing as a Free Ride

There is a serious crisis going on in Brazil these days; a crisis which I like to call the Small Change Crisis. The shortage of small bills is so mindboggling that it is not uncommon for a vendor to run around to find change if you buy something worth R$1 (one real = US$0.40) with a R$2 (two reais = US$0.80) bill. Now, I can understand a vendor having to run for change if you pay for a very small item with a R$50, but to not even have R$1 in change is pretty extreme. Small change is like gold here. My advice? If you get it, hold on to it! Don’t spend it unnecessarily and get rid of your R$50s as soon as you can!

This afternoon, when I was taking the bus home, the cobrador [the cobrador is a man or woman who sits 1/3 of the way down the bus at a turnstyle and collects each passenger’s fare, thus leaving the bus driver to actually drive the bus] did not have R$3 in change for me. Not being able to pay, I had to stay in the front or “non-paying” side of the turnstyle. As more and more people got on and went through the turnstyle using their electronic passes or in a few cases, exact change, the paying side became increasing full and I no longer wanted to cram my way through it regardless of the cobrador’s newfound ability to provide change.

For a brief moment, the idea of getting off at my stop using the front door and without paying crossed my mind. How easy it would have been. There were so many people crammed in by now, that I couldn't imagine that he would have even noticed, and in any case, he was the one who didn’t let me pay in the first place. Of course, my conscience kicked in and in a moment of rider fluidity, I managed to pay the guy and ask if I could get off from the front instead of squishing my way through to the back. The woman who was squished up next to me was very relieved to hear me ask if I could get off from the front. With a broken arm in a sling, I am not sure she would have survived the struggle to get to the back door intact!