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Tap tap

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A tap tap bus used for longer journeys
A tap tap bus used for longer journeys

Tap taps (Haitian Creole: Taptap, pronounced [taptap]) are gaily painted buses[1] or pick-up trucks with metal covers[2] that serve as share taxis in Haiti. They may also be referred to as camionette.[3]

Literally meaning "quick quick",[4] these vehicles for hire are privately owned and ornately decorated.[1] They follow fixed routes, won't leave until filled with passengers, and riders can disembark at any point in the journey.[5]

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Pickup truck

Pickup truck

A pickup truck or pickup is a light-duty truck that has an enclosed cabin, and a back end made up of a cargo bed that is enclosed by three low walls with no roof. In Australia and New Zealand, both pickups and coupé utilities are called utes, short for utility vehicle. In South Africa, people of all language groups use the term bakkie, a diminutive of bak, Afrikaans for "basket".

Share taxi

Share taxi

A share taxi is a mode of transport which falls between a taxicab and a bus. These vehicles for hire are typically smaller than buses and usually take passengers on a fixed or semi-fixed route without timetables, but instead departing when all seats are filled. They may stop anywhere to pick up or drop off their passengers. Often found in developing countries, the vehicles used as share taxis range from four-seat cars to minibuses. They are often owner-operated.

Haiti

Haiti

Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island which it shares with the Dominican Republic. To its south-west lies the small Navassa Island, which is claimed by Haiti but is disputed as a United States territory under federal administration. Haiti is 27,750 km2 (10,714 sq mi) in size, the third largest country in the Caribbean by area, and has an estimated population of 11.4 million, making it the most populous country in the Caribbean. The capital is Port-au-Prince.

Vehicle for hire

Vehicle for hire

A vehicle for hire is a vehicle providing private transport or shared transport for a fee, in which passengers are generally free to choose their points or approximate points of origin and destination, unlike public transport, and which they do not drive themselves, as in car rental and carsharing. They may be offered via a ridesharing company.

Decoration

Tap tap in Port-au-Prince.
Tap tap in Port-au-Prince.

Often painted with religious names or slogans,[4] the tap tap is known for its lavish decoration, and many feature wild colors, portraits of famous people, such as Justin Bieber and Michael Jackson and intricate, hand-cut wooden window covers, some window covers are also made of metal.[1]

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Travel warnings

Tap tap cab in Port-au-Prince
Tap tap cab in Port-au-Prince

Many developed countries inform their citizens to not take tap taps when visiting Haiti.

Canada

While saying not to use any form of public transport in Haiti, the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada advises against tap tap travel especially.[6]

United States

The US State Department warns travelers not to use tap taps "because they are often overloaded, mechanically noisy, and driven unsafely."[7]

Source: "Tap tap", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, August 18th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_tap.

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References
  1. ^ a b c Haiti's 'Tap Tap' Bus Art Flourishes After Quake PBS Newshour, March 30, 2010
  2. ^ Haiti: Tap-taps traveladventures.org
  3. ^ Paul Clammer, Michael Grosberg, Jens Porup (2008). Dominican Republic and Haiti (4th ed.). Lonely Planet. p. 355. ISBN 9781741042924.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b Tap-tap, fula-fula, kia-kia: The Haitian bus in Atlantic perspective. Thompson, Robert Farris. African Arts. Los Angeles: Spring 1996. Vol. 29, Iss. 2; p. 36
  5. ^ My Haiti Picture for today : Tap-Tap katianovetsaintlot.blogspot.com, February 9, 2010
  6. ^ TRAVEL REPORT Haiti: 9. Travel and Currency Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Official Site
  7. ^ Travel Warning: Haiti US Department of State Official Site, January 20, 2011
See also


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