South Africa turning donkeys into mass transit

The Chicago Tribune ^ | May 9, 2004 | Laurie Goering -- Tribune foreign correspondent

[Willie Green]

PRETORIA, South Africa -- Bringing public transport to the sticks is no easy mission. But Department of Transportation officials in South Africa's rural North West province have come up with a breakthrough: the world's first standardized, wheelchair-accessible donkey cart.

Province officials, working in conjunction with South Africa's bureau of standards, have developed a donkey cart with reflectors, a canopy for cover and padded bench seats that are removable to accommodate wheelchairs or freight. The idea is to soon have fleets of government-sanctioned donkey carts carrying children to distant schools, farmers and their produce to markets, and the sick to clinics, all at low cost and without creating a menace on the rutted tracks that pass for roads in the province's remote reaches.

[cyborg]

what a relief to laugh for a change a much needed JD ping

[Lorianne]

Very sustainable. Actually donkeys are used throughout much of the Middle East. Not to mention camels. And their fuel is biodegradable. :)

[Republicus2001]

wait this can't be right! I remember from the great surf movie "Endless Summer" that S. Africa was a modern day country. Using donkeys is so - third world. I don't believe it.

[FITZ]

If gas prices go up much higher, I think I'll be looking into getting a donkey --- I think they'd be easier to keep parked while at work than horses.