An uncommon view in Hawler: a bus.I was some time ago in Stockholm, Sweden. Local buses were on strike. Lack of buses remainded me about my stay in Hawler last spring. For me the biggest surprise there was the lack of public transport. The problems in travelling was in Stockholm an exception which makes people angry. In Hawler a situation, which is much more difficult, is a normal thing.
Metro train in Fittja, a suburb in Stockholm. Stockholm has effective underground system. It is very quick and in most stations there are buses going to different directions. Fortunately underground drivers were not on strike. But the system was half paralyzed because there were no connecting buses. What people did? They walked. I walked in the mornings 45 minutes to from my friend's home to an underground station. Fortunately the weather was good.
In Hawler I saw almost no people to walk. This surprised me. How the poor people travel who do not have a car? And no one was driving bicycle. In European cities bicycling is very popular. There are roads which are used only by bicycles. In Helsinki I bicycle every day in the summer. Hawler would be good place to bicycle because there are no hills.
In Stockholm underground stations there are persons who control that passengers have tickets. Most of them are immigrants. They do their work but they also keep an eye on people of their own nationality, especially the women and teenagers. The Kurdish ticket controllers are a network of spies who know what time Kurdish youth travel and with whom. If a girl travels with a stranger whole the Kurdish community knows about it and her parents are the first ones to get the information. So the girls avoid this.
There are already now bad traffic jams in Hawler. And I suppose the situation will be much more difficult after some years. When people get money there will be more and more cars on the streets.
In every European city with one million people there is underground, local trains or trams. Public transport is better by them than by buses. They are faster as the traffic jams do not affect them. If the public transport system is fast and comfortable, even car owners use it. This means less cars on the streets so that every one benefits, also those who travel by their own cars because they do not waste time by waiting in traffic jams.
Now the re-construction of Hawler is going on and the decision makers decide the travelling policy of the future. There is a need for good public transport system.
But maybe the lack of public transport is a secret plan of the men to keep their women at home. I do not speak only about the work of studies of women - not even to mention feminist activities. They are depended of their fathers and husbands when they want to do just some ordinary shopping in the bazaar.
In Hawler I saw almost no people to walk. This surprised me. How the poor people travel who do not have a car? And no one was driving bicycle. In European cities bicycling is very popular. There are roads which are used only by bicycles. In Helsinki I bicycle every day in the summer. Hawler would be good place to bicycle because there are no hills.
In Stockholm underground stations there are persons who control that passengers have tickets. Most of them are immigrants. They do their work but they also keep an eye on people of their own nationality, especially the women and teenagers. The Kurdish ticket controllers are a network of spies who know what time Kurdish youth travel and with whom. If a girl travels with a stranger whole the Kurdish community knows about it and her parents are the first ones to get the information. So the girls avoid this.
There are already now bad traffic jams in Hawler. And I suppose the situation will be much more difficult after some years. When people get money there will be more and more cars on the streets.
In every European city with one million people there is underground, local trains or trams. Public transport is better by them than by buses. They are faster as the traffic jams do not affect them. If the public transport system is fast and comfortable, even car owners use it. This means less cars on the streets so that every one benefits, also those who travel by their own cars because they do not waste time by waiting in traffic jams.
Now the re-construction of Hawler is going on and the decision makers decide the travelling policy of the future. There is a need for good public transport system.
But maybe the lack of public transport is a secret plan of the men to keep their women at home. I do not speak only about the work of studies of women - not even to mention feminist activities. They are depended of their fathers and husbands when they want to do just some ordinary shopping in the bazaar.
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