Pondering Customs

On Tuesday when Ralph and I were at the Italian Coffee Company, we were watching the buses go by and chatting. On the bus, there are two employees: one driver and one heckler/ticket taker. As the bus goes by a stop (one happened to be located just beside the coffee shop) the heckler yells out the window the route of the bus "El Centro! El Centro!". I imagined this happening in Toronto, a guy leaning out the front window yelling "Dowtown! Eaton Centre!" It made me laugh, but then I began to wonder why. Why have two people working the same bus? Why the heckler? Could the driver not take the money, too? (Damn that LEAN workshop training!)
A few things occured to me. The buses barely stop to let people on. To have them potentially take money, sell tickets, make change, argue with a student trying to get a free ride. Nightmarish gridlock. Non-stop honking in the city. Better to have someone worry about logistics and another one to just drive the bus and navigate the weaving traffic of taxis, SUVs and motorcycles. And the odd brave pedestrian.
It also occured to me that perhaps the heckler is there because Oaxaca has a significant population of non-Spanish speakers in Mexico. Many indigenous still speak only their native Indian tongue. Not being able to read, a heckler yelling at me "El Centro!" would be helpful. I know where El Centro is, and what roads one might take to get there.
Ralph wondered if perhaps a driver and heckler purchased a certain route, similar to how they do it in Pakistan. That the heckler was there to drum up business, so to speak.
Ralph and I tend to take these "Mexicanisms" in stride. Though considering the reasons for the customs is interesting coffee conversation.

To read about literacy in Mexico, here is an interesting piece: Literacy in Mexico