The system, a rapid bus network called TransMilenio, rolled out in 2000.
Its buses weren’t as big or as fast as trains, but they were up and running in a fraction of the time and at a vastly lower cost.
The idea of rapid buses became the rage from Jakarta to Mexico City, and Enrique Peñalosa, the Bogotá mayor who cooked up the idea for TransMilenio, became a globe-trotting celebrity after his term ended.
But there was another colorful character whose contributions to TransMilenio I had to leave on the cutting room floor.
(He explained the dropping of his pants by citing the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of “symbolic violence.”)
Persons:
Enrique Peñalosa, George Harrison, Dalai, Peñalosa, —, TransMilenio, Antanas Mockus, Pierre Bourdieu’s
Organizations:
Grist, Super, Colombia’s National University, mooning
Locations:
Bogotá, Colombia, New York, Jakarta, Mexico City