Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Delman



Delman is a horse-drawn carriage or buggy like the one pictured above.

You would probably think that delman is no longer in use as a means of transportation in a big city like Bandung. But it is. In several parts of the city, particularly on streets/roads that connect the city with its suburban areas, it is still very much in use as a popular means of transportation. The one pictured above, for example, serves the route of Cimindi and Gunung Batu area.

A delman looks like an environmentally friendly means of transportation. It burns no fuels and hence produces zero carbon emission. However, without a special lane allocated to it, it often causes a long queue of motor vehicles behind it. In small roads and during rush hours, a single slowly-moving delman can turn what is already a bad traffic into an even more annoying congestion. Hence, what on the surface looks like an environmentally friendly means of transportation can actually be a significant - albeit indirect - contributor of air pollution.

Photo by Agus Wahyudi (a freelance photographer and Bandung Daily Photo contributor).

3 comments:

Dina said...

Yes, I can see your point.

Is that thing draped under the horse a poop-catcher? I've never seen such a thing.

Leif Hagen said...

It looks like a fun ride to me!

Feriyadi Ramansyah said...

I have used to with it since I was a little boy (I'm native Gunung Batu ;p)

Instead of reduced fuel, it produce the "natural" product from its hole. It's more disgusting than you ever think