Subway workers ‘liberate’ turnstiles at six stations (Clarín)

As Buenos Aires subway workers prepared to go on strike, they took away the turnstiles from six stations, making travel free. Not the way to run a railroad—even one that is underground and privatized (part of the problem).

The Spanish headline (Trabajadores del subte liberan molinetes en seis estaciones) even has a literary subtext: in River Plate Spanish, turnstiles are—I had forgotten—“molinetes” (small windmills), so that riding the porteño subways is, literally, a bit quixotic.

Actually, they are (were?) very decorative, with a variety of murals in many stations. They are (were?) reasonably safe, clean for a big city, fast. But not air-conditioned (it’s winter there, anyway).