The Wave System (🙋🏽‍♂️this, not 🏄🏽‍♀️)

Ciudad Juarez is a bustling city with about 2,000,000 people trying to get around each day. And getting around is made easier by their extensive bus system. Public transport is big business in Juarez.

  Early one morning I went to meet a missions team and decided to count the buses as I drove there. During this 15 minutes I counted 63 buses. Some of those buses were from factories. The factories send out buses to pick people up for work, and they take them back home after their shift too. I heard stories about couples meeting on the bus to work. 💚

There are many public transportation buses too as most people do not own cars. To get a bus, you walk to the street the bus drives down and as it nears, you wave at the driver. She/he will pull over and pick you up right where you are standing. And when you want off same thing, they stop, anywhere on the bus line.

Quite different from the bus systems where I have been in the U.S. where there are designated spots to get on and off a bus. In Juarez, there is one bus line that runs up a major street that has a bus stop. This is a non-stop line that goes up and down this one street all day long. Every other bus in town is the wave system.

When I think about cultural differences this is one that really stood out to me. I imagined Mexicans immigrating to the U.S. All happy to be in a new place, excited for the possibilities. They want to go see something and they see a bus fly by on a nearby street. So they walk over and when the next bus comes they throw up their hand and wave at the driver. He or she may, or may not, wave back, but they will definitely keep on driving, right past our new friend. Imagine the confusion and disappointment.

Every culture is different, and not just learning the social etiquette but even simple things, like catching the bus.