Exciting or enduring, either word sums up a typical minibus ride depending on what time of the day you take one, sometimes which day and more importantly which route you are on because some have far more action than others.
Whether any of the tourists here for Cricket World Cup, however many or few they are, will take a local minibus ride during their visit would be interesting to know. Those of us who have no choice but to utilise the public transportation service could tell so many stories.
“Gimme a shake nah” are familiar words to the travelling public, annoying to some, though there are others who believe nothing is wrong when a minibus conductor looks you in the face and asks you to accommodate another passenger in a row where three of you are already seated.
It is irritating when this happens particularly if the person coming into the seat cannot comfortably fit there. Persons on the heavier side really should not consent to getting a “squeeze” in a minibus or giving one, yet they do it, nearly all the time.
Maybe this can be seen as slightly prejudicial but if the minibus conductor asks you to accommodate a thin person or a child it seems okay. There are times when getting “a squeeze” to get to where you are going is priceless such as when there is bad weather or you are running late and really cannot wait another minute longer.
Sometimes a minibus journey starts out trouble free and it gets problematic. You would board a bus that is quiet and five minutes later the driver remembers he has a stereo and the crassest collection of dancehall music. And so you have a journey filled with ear-splitting, really bad music. Try telling either the driver or conductor to turn it down or worse, take it off and what happens next is your typical story.
“Nobody else ain’t complaining only you and this ain’t even loud. If you don’t want to hear the music you could leave the bus.” This classic rebuff is so popular among the drivers you would think these men learn this stuff somewhere.
Though some drivers are understanding and would easily comply with a request to lower the music, they are few. It is therefore heart warming and consoling when one person makes the request and the driver refuses and the other passengers decide to berate him – within minutes the bus goes silent. But this so rarely happens.
Some minibuses have all manner of messages posted in them some serious and others, well we are not even sure. But it would appear as though no one pays them any mind. There are the “no smoking” signs which even the drivers often ignore, and then there are the “nice journey travel with us again” signs to which you want to say “yeah right”.
To mention that there are drivers and conductors who drink while driving and smoke more than the regular cigarette is another side of the story we would rather get into some other time since that deserves a full write-up.
Last but certainly not least, is the bus park experience. For the uninitiated, the minibus park is where you find the touts and ‘cricketers’. The touts are well known and are regular features at any bus park. They are ones who fill the minibuses using all manner of tactics, sometimes even violence.
Then there are the ‘cricketers’ who “bat” as they say. They sit in the minibuses pretending to be passengers in order to lure you in. People would far faster enter a bus that already has passenger than an empty one, since they would tend to think that the bus with people in it might leave before the others. But the ‘cricketers’ are so adept at this deception, that once genuine travellers enter the bus, their departure is so sudden you might miss it if you blinked. thescene@stabroeknews.com
