When you're confronted with news like that of Joy Fm online ( Road accidents consume 1.6% of GDP
) that road indiscipline is killing Ghanaians (and it is!), and you also hear and witness the execrable driving of tro-tro drivers, you're inevitably going to feel that they remain the bane of traffic woes.Trust me, though, that there are as many bad private drivers as there are commercial ones.
Before I set off for work this morning, I needed to run an errand in town (Osu), and decided in order to save money and all that, I'd take the trotsky. It cost me almost three-quarters less of the price. To get into town--specifically 37--I paid GHp0.40 (forty pesewas, or almost thirty US cents). A taxi "dropping" would have cost me a cool GHC4.5-GHC5.00 maximum!
On the way, I saw a young, personable and well-dressed lady, with a cute haircut who was holding a lovely Nokia n900 series phone! I am serious! I wondered what someone like her was doing a trotsky like this. Someone might have asked the same thing about me, too! Except to say I'm neither cute nor particularly well-dressed, nor personable!:-) Oh, and though I have a Nokia phone, too, it's profoundly exclipsed by this lady's!
On a more serious note, I kept on observing and wondering about the utility of the trotsky. If only they got the drivers to go back to school and know the road signs; plus get some uniforms for good measure, a great number of Ghanaians would probably patronise it?
There are so many trotsky's in town, and I guess it's a reflection of the supply-and-demand associated with the choice of commuters to shun expensive "dropping" (chartered) of taxis, and opt for a mode of transport that would compromise their safety, and/but get them from A to B in the cheapest manner possible.
For that reason, I foresee that they'll be around for a while!
some site has compiled all of my transport stories here: http://www.wowzio.com/pulse/846201_ghana-transport
5 comments:
Great perspective, as usual!
Nana Yaw--many thanks for your kind words! Incidentally, saw your "inconvenient itch" piece in Juliet Asante's magazine--good stuff!:-) You have friends in hugh places I see;-))
Be down your site soon--been a while, as it has been a while since I blogged here, too;-)
Hey, I'm one of those people who patronize trotros! they're cheap and get you where you're going as fast (or slowly) as drop-ins. Plus to me, it's an occasion to see people interact. I'm a bit too much of a Martian seeing life mostly through her computer monitor, so it's often the only way for me to meet 'real' people. Don't cry for me, though :-)
Ah, i have to agree with pipedreams here. The people and the conversations make it worthwhile. I'm considering a year-long project to document life in tro-tros...a slice of life in Ghana. Peace to you, my brother and keep doing what you do.
Pipedreams--I never would have thought you patronizing tro-tros. Honestly! Keep the fire burning, and try and get some blogging done about them;-)) I like you rationale for getting into a tro-tro...
Esi--good to see you here after a long while! Well, all I can ask is "what on Earth happened to your car?". Your project sounds great...be happy to assist should you require some assistance/perspective;-)) Kudos to you, too!
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