By Óscar Oliván Escanero and Dido Polo Monterrosa |
Bogotá (EFE).- Breaking stereotypes, changing macho perspectives and committing to environmental sustainability are pillars of “La Rolita”, a bus company in the Colombian capital that trains and employs women drivers in a sector traditionally dominated by men.
“La Rolita” is a mixed economy company, created as a District Transport Operator, and takes its name from the adjective “rolo”, as those born in Bogotá are colloquially called.
Multiple paradigm shifts
Patricia González is one of the workers who goes daily to the bus yard located in the Perdomo neighborhood, in the town of Ciudad Bolívar, a place where the slopes follow one another and communication with other neighborhoods in Bogotá has been one of the great debts of Mayor’s office.
“La Rolita” located its base here, which has a fleet of 195 electric buses and in which more than 50% of the workforce are women.
“It is a total change, but it is something that should have been done already. Many consortiums damage the environment due to everything that fuel causes and do not properly maintain their vehicles”, Patricia told EFE, who has found in “La Rolita” the possibility of working on what she likes: driving.
The woman, who is a nursing assistant, explains: “however, my father has been driving for 40 years and as a child I asked him to let me drive, but he said it was something for men,” confesses who did not renounce her desires despite the objections of those around you.
“The most important thing was that my father told me that he is proud of me for not giving up and following my dream,” declares this mother who is the head of the family, who sits daily at the helm of the green buses.
Patricia, along with the rest of the “La Rolita” staff, are responsible for providing service to 41,000 daily users in just nine months, with a network that connects 21 neighborhoods through 11 environmentally friendly routes.
This initiative seeks to expand to other means of transportation, such as the Ciudad Bolívar aerial cable, implement car chargers or change school routes to a 100% sustainable and electric fleet.
Environmental sustainability of “La Rolita”
Milton Velandia, leader of the “La Rolita” workshop, does not hide his satisfaction when highlighting the achievements in terms of sustainability. The buses “work exclusively with clean electricity”, which has meant that 6,000 tons of CO2 have stopped being emitted into the atmosphere since the start of operations in September 2022.
Likewise, it points out the efforts of the transport company in terms of washing the buses, where they have managed to shorten cleaning times, resulting in savings of up to 30% of water compared to traditional methods.
“Our water is treated and reused,” explains Velandia, who adds that there are no polluting emissions or annoying noises in the yard, which demonstrates how the use of clean energy benefits both the environment and nearby residential areas.
Inclusion as axis
Getting more than half of the driver workforce to be made up of women is not something easy in such a masculinized sector. Therefore, “La Rolita” developed a training system for them to update their license and develop skills that allow them to break the stereotypes associated with driving.
Although there was not only good news. “Unfortunately, some women have given up, we have treated them with psychological support and there have been cases of financial abuse from their environment. Despite this, we have been able to give opportunities to many women who had unrecognized jobs”, such as Uber drivers or informal vendors, acknowledges the manager of “La Rolita”, Carolina Martínez.
In addition, the transport operator seeks to help other sectors that have historically been highlighted at a social level, such as the LGTBI population and foreigners, who must face multiple difficulties in the search for legal employment in Colombia.
This sustainable and inclusive project “is for all the vulnerable population that the city has and that, if we continue to be allowed, we want to continue supporting,” says the manager excitedly.