Argentina: bus drivers sought, no men need apply
阿根廷招募公車司機　請男性止步

A town near Buenos Aires, leery of the screeching stops and careening turns it says typifies male drivers, has hired exclusively women to shuttle its passengers around.

“With women driving, the bus line is more family oriented, more friendly,” said Rafaela Nuyl, 34, one of 28 newly hired drivers for the new bus service in Vicente Lopez.

The bus line in the town of 270,000, which has been operating since the beginning of the last month, makes frequent stops at local primary schools, adult day care centers and a maternity hospital, said officials in Vicente Lopez.

They underscored the importance that drivers need to use kid-glove care when chauffeuring sometimes frail or very young passengers around the town.

“As a bus line that transports children and elderly people, we wanted to have drivers who drive in a gentle manner,” said Luis Fusco, the town’s top transportation official.

Officials in Vicente Lopez said the service is free-of-charge, which was conceived as “a public service” for residents.

It is relatively rare in Argentina to see any female bus drivers, let alone a town where women exclusively drive a city’s buses, but Nuyl said her customers don’t appear to have any objections.

“So far, I have not been on the receiving end of any macho behavior,” she told AFP.(AFP)

鄰近布宜諾斯艾利斯的一個城鎮，因為顧慮到城內男性公車司機普遍會在到站時發出刺耳聲響且轉向時搖晃行駛，所以決定招募清一色女性公車司機。

三十四歲的拉斐拉‧努伊說，「因為這條公車線全由女性來駕駛，所以比較家庭導向，且較為親切。」努伊是維森特洛佩斯新公車路線中，新進的二十八位女性司機之一。

維森特洛佩斯的官員表示，此公車路線已在上個月初，在這個有二十七萬人口的城市開始營運，每當經過當地國小、老人日間照護中心與婦幼醫院，公車會經常性地停下來。

他們凸顯當載送老弱婦孺到城裡各處時，司機有必要以溫和的態度照顧乘客。

城內交通局長路易斯‧福斯科說，「我們希望這個載送小孩與老人的公車路線，司機駕車時都能秉持溫和的態度。」

維森特洛佩斯的官員說，因這輛公車免費搭乘，所以被認定為是當地居民的「公益服務」。

阿根廷的女性公車駕駛實屬罕見，更不用說在城內所有公車駕駛清一色是女性。即便如此，努伊說她看不出來有任何乘客抱持反對態度。

她告訴法新社說，「截至今日，我尚未遇到任何男子氣概行為的挑釁。」

（法新社／翻譯：林亞蒂）