La Camioneta as it is frequently called in spanish refers to the used American school buses which after they reach the end of their service life must be sold. Because these buses have been maintained as part of a fleet, old school buses are frequently in fairly good condition when sold and because of the need to sell them quickly they go for low prices. This has provided an alternative to purchasing expensive newer buses from known manufacturers.

Type: Private

Fleet Size: Unknown, No official figure.

Routes: Unknown, up to 20 in various local continuous service. Long Distance service more common.

Manufacturer and Powerplant: Chicken Buses are always older model retired school buses that have been sold at an auction and driven to various locations in South America where they begin new lives as transit buses. Commonly found are International IC, Freightliner, Thomas and Blue Bird models.

Fare Collection: Chicken Buses are private entities that are entirely free from government regulation. Fare is usually collected by the driver who is also sometimes the owner of the bus. If not the driver the driver's assistant or conductor will collect fare in cash.

Livery: Chicken Buses are painted according to the personal tastes of the owner. Typically if the owner owns a fleet of 2 or more, he will pain them all the same way. Personal Owner/Operators paint the bus however they wish. Sometimes the bus is painted as a mural to an idea, person or deity. Most often the bus is painted and then given a female name akin to the way a ship captain would name a ship after a woman. After being painted the school buses are retrofitted with roof mounted luggage racks to accommodate the often bulky cargo that cannot be squeezed into a school bus interior.

Innovations: Contrary to popular belief, chicken buses are very safe, they were originally designed to carry children so their use as transit vehicles is not that impractical. The use of old school buses instead of newer fleets also means that repair costs are extremely low in comparison to any other types of bus transportation. School Buses do not have as many components and this makes them simple, easy and cheap to repair. The driver sometimes doubles as the mechanic.

Driving Dynamics: Chicken Buses (named for the common occurrences of passengers carrying livestock on board) provide service from major towns and cities to the most remote villages and settlements across South Americas undeveloped landscape. The rate of car ownership is significantly less in many South American countries so bus travel has a very high demand. Chicken Buses often display their destination on the windshield and people heading in that general direction or final destination pay a fare to the owner or conductor of the bus. The driver and assistant load the bus and secure luggage. Chicken Bus journeys can last hours as they provide service to very rural areas. A trip that would take days walking or hitchhiking. For people who live in remote villages the Bus may only come to their village once or twice a month, sometimes weekly.