Every day I take my son to school by bus. My wife picks him up by bus as well.

She told me about something that she witnessed. Today, I saw the same thing.

Before we start, a little bit of backstory.

Students and Buses

Historically, Rio offers free transportation to students of public schools. In the past, students only had to be wearing a public school uniform. The driver would then open the bus’ exit door. The kids would take the bus and there you go. Benefit for the population.

One day, people figured out that it was easy to obtain or even forge a public school shirt. You would see adults and all kinds of people carrying one of those shirts in their bags. Whenever they wanted to move around using public transportation, they would put on the shirt and get a free ride.

A solution was devised: the RioCard.

This card allows people to use public transportation easily. You get credits in your card from your employer, or for free if you are a student or senior citizen. You may also have a card and load credits on it by yourself.

When students enroll in a public school, they also receive their RioCard, valid for one year.

Simple as that.

However, these student cards end up in other hands. Relatives take them for their own usage, or they resell the cards. In the end, we have a large group of students from public schools without their cards.

The drivers are instructed to only allow students through the entrance door, where the card must be used to spin the turnstile.

The Bus Driver x Kids War

Case Study 1: Kid raises arm for the bus. The bus stops. The kid asks to enter for free, either through the exit door or jumping the turnstile. The driver says no. Kid stays. Bus leaves.

Case Study 2: Kid waits at stop. Bus stops so a passenger can leave. Before the driver closes the exit door, the kid rushes into the bus and run to the back seat quickly. The outcome can be:

• Driver yells for the kid to leave. Says he won’t leave while the kid is there. Kid leaves.
• Driver yells for the kid to leave. Says he won’t leave while the kid is there. Kid screams back. Kid curses the driver. Kid threatens the driver. Kid says he/she will order the “guys” in the favela to come for him and his family and that the driver will wake up in the next day with “his mouth full of ants”. Driver gives up and drives.

And yes, I have personally seen this.

Case Study 3: Kids form groups to enforce their will of a free ride.

• If the driver does not stop, they may throw rocks at the bus, breaking the windows.
• If the driver stops, the kids flow in through the entrance door and simply skip the turnstile. If the driver protests, they react aggressively. I have not seen any physical aggression so far, but I believe it might happen.
• There is a variant of the previous case study, where a group will rush through the exit door when the bus stops to drop a passenger.

What Is Happening Now?

There is this animosity. Kids and drivers are enemies.

When a group of kids get together, they simply vandalize the bus before leaving.

They rip off seats and throw them out of the window.

They pull the emergency exit levers and push the glass windows out.

They do it just for the sake of it. To get back at the driver.

I have seen it twice in the last month. The driver has to stop the bus, get on the street, gather the seats that were thrown out, put them back in the bus, drop the passengers at the next stop and head back to the garage.

I don’t know of the consequences to the driver. Maybe he gets a pay cut for not driving that whole shift. That wouldn’t surprise me either.

The general population is on the kids’ side in this. It is usual for people to get involved in the driver x student conflict. They defend the kid. I have heard:

“You are getting in the way of this kid going to school!”

“You have no heart!”

“I am going to kick your ass if you don’t let this kid go to school!”

Personally, I think it doesn’t justify the kids’ actions. If they are at school, they should have a card.

What Is a Kid?

What shocks me the most is that we are talking about kids between 8 and 12. How to handle that?

I once watched an interview on TV. A sociologist had conducted a research and she identified that over 90% of criminals charged with felony had a petty crime as their first entry in their criminal record.

She tried to prove that a zero-tolerance policy for simple crimes would inhibit future disasters.

Brazil is known for its impunity. A corrupt politician gets in a scam and steals some money. Nothing happens. He gets into a bigger scam. Nothing happens. In a few years, he almost drives Petrobras into bankruptcy.

Likewise, a kid invades a bus. Nothing happens. Then, he will leave during the night to spray some graffiti, tagging walls. Nothing happens. Steal a necklace or a watch. Nothing happens. You know the end of the story.

The Knife Spree

Downtown Stabbing

In May/2015, it came to the attention of mainstream media the gangs of kids were assaulting people on the street to steal their personal belongings.

In this link there is a video of one of these attacks.

The man was stabbed multiple times. When interviewed, he said this is happening all the time and, guess what, nothing happened to the attackers.

This is Downtown, Rio, early evening. In the video it can be seen that there are people in the area. The boys don’t care.

The Doctor Is Dead

A few days later, a Doctor was cycling at the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. A group of kids approached him, stabbed him. He died. A rich doctor killed at a rich neighborhood does trigger even more media attention.

I Give Up

In this other article, a woman states that, in two weeks, she:

• Had her mobile stolen.
• Was beaten by a homophobic group.
• Was leaving the Maracanã subway station. A kid, 8 years old, stabbed her hand with a kitchen knife. He took her new mobile. Then, a 12 and a 16 approached her and stabbed her in the stomach.

She is recovering, but already decided to leave the country.

Saved by a Lawyer, but Not in the Way You Think

This woman was leaving the bank. She was approached by a group of four kids. A 9-year-old grabbed her mobile from her hand and ran.

A lawyer was able to hold the kid. The others escaped.

That is a pity. The woman did not even have to time to thank the kids for not stabbing her.

At the Police Station, the boy said he had already been taken to the station twice. He said he left the correctional facility for young criminals. That’s it. He did not escape. He just left.

After that, he was released, as usual.

Other eight similar crimes were reported in the same area on that day.

What the Hell Is Going on?

Kids are abusing the impunity they have, to perform crimes and to get away with it.

Kids are abusing the fact that a kitchen knife is not an actual weapon. They can carry it around, unmolested.

Don’t worry, though. In the end of June/2015, the Governor of the Rio de Janeiro State has signed a law that forbids people to carry knifes longer than 10 centimeters. Problem solved! Brazilian style!