Tap-Taps in Haiti

In Haiti, Tap-taps are colorful vans or trucks, a four-wheeled public transportation. Here in the United States we use a taxi to get around, in Haiti we use Tap-taps as taxis. The name Tap-Tap come from the passengers' habit of using their coins to tap on the side of the tap-tap to let the driver know they need to be let off. I remember vividly as a little girl growing up in Haiti getting into the back of a colorful splendidly painted exteriors with religious pictures, and the Haitian flag on the side of the tap- tap to head to school. There were many smaller vehicles, that was less bright, but doing the same job: transporting passengers from one part of Port-Au-Prince to the other part of Haiti such as Saint Marc which is where I am originally from. Although Tap-taps are commonly known throughout Haiti, it is not safe. Depending on the roads, and weather there are many accidents that can happen while riding the tap-tap. Many people use tap-taps to head to work, to school, or for a quick ride to their destination, depending on the size of the Tap-tap it can fit between 6 to 100 people. In 2018, my husband, daughter and I went back to visit Haiti, my daughter and husband was so amazed to see the colorful vans. As seen in the picture above, they got in the back of a Tap-tap for a short ride. During our visits, we witnessed passengers who were riding on a tap-tap clinging to the back of the truck, there were children who were parked on the floor of the pick-up truck with luggage. Most luggage was tied to the truck from the outside, while livestock such as chicken, roosters, and goats were put on the floor under the seats. There were other passengers who were standing in the pick up truck, and there were others who were sitting on the roof of the cabin. We saw some tap-taps that almost tilted because there was too many people in the vehicle, the roads were bad. 

The more visually appealing the tap-taps were, the more business they would get. It was a constant competition between the drivers to get their tap-taps designed with pictures, Bible verses written across the vans, and vibrant colors of orange, red, yellow, green. Some Tap-taps had pictures of celebrities, and pictures of Jesus. All in all, the people in Haiti are busy and hard workers, they wake up early each day to start their morning routines, which consist of traveling very far on a long bumpy dirt road to get to work. With different forms of transportation to choose from to help them get around, they mostly depend on the tap-taps to help them accomplish their responsibilities.