The battered yellow buses were also loading students.

It is the reaction that Mr. Sharpton hoped for as he made his way from city to city on a battered bus.

The result is a sleek, silver coach that is well beyond the battered bus Mr. Accascina envisioned.

A public safety board made up of officials with the city's Department of Transportation is inspecting the battered bus to see if it had any mechanical problems.

Convinced that the department's battered buses were contributing to its negative public image, he declared that only spotless vehicles be allowed off Rikers Island.

Accentuating the experience was a ride on the battered second-class bus to and from Ocotlan.

"The Acre express," said one traveler, giving the battered bus a farewell kick on the fender.

Every morning, around dawn, a fleet of battered private buses from throughout the region line up in the largest plaza.

The cartoon indicated that the battered bus with flat tires had been headed toward Mongolia, considered a symbol of austere Communism.

On some nights the battered buses provided by the Iraqi Embassy materialize outside its evidently defunct trade pavilion here.