Day 6: Dear TfL...

Dear TfL,

All aboard

Having experienced the public transport in Ghana first hand, I have come to the conclusion that a lot can be done to improve the service of buses in London while also reducing the cost of the current fares.

Who needs internal heating when you can sit next to three other people in a row made for two? And trying to read the destination on the front of the bus can be such a strain on the eyes- a conductor who screams the destination at the top of his voice every 15 seconds would make the perfect substitute. In the interests of global warming, and road traffic in general, I would also like to recommend smaller, more compact buses with extra seating, delivering more people to their destinations more efficiently. And finally, I would like to promote the use of on-board radios to put people in a good mood and encourage sing-a-longs.

I hope you will take all my suggestions into consideration.

Yours sincerely,

A Londoner who has been changed by Ghana

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I will never be ungrateful for the buses in London ever again.

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In Accra, if you don’t have a car or a bike, there are only two ways to get around: by taxi or by tro tro (pronounced tror-tror).

Tro tros are minivans with extra seats to maximise seating capacity. They’re notorious for being over-crowded and smelly but like the buses in London, they’re a cheap and convenient way of getting around.

So today, I got on two tro tros, just to bring you this post.

From top left, clockwise: a rusty tro tro leaving Tema Station, the seat in front of me on the second tro tro, a young girl selling water to passengers while they wait, three rows of passengers in front of me.

The destination of the first tro tro we boarded was Tema (pronounced teh-mah) Station (an incredibly busy bus station with hundreds of stalls selling everything from food to clothes to souvenirs for tourists). Luckily, the tro tro was brand new so the seats were comfy and the engine ran smoothly. However, I was still pretty overwhelmed by the number of seats inside: “they attach an extra seat to the end of each row so they can fit as many people as possible into each tro tro”. 

A man (our bus conductor) collects the fare from new passengers (anything from 40 pesewas to 1 cedi, depending on the distance travelled) and, whilst the tro tro moves through traffic, leans out of the window yelling the name of the final destination to potential passengers. After the initial shock of just how cramped the vehicle was, the ride became quite pleasant (I even made a friend). But this was short lived as we soon arrived at Tema Station. 

The second tro tro we boarded was more like the tro tros I’d heard of. Old and rusty, with seats that had lost their padding and an engine that sounded like an old man coughing. It was the kind of vehicle that MOTs were made for. Eighteen of us squeezed into the grotty bus before the driver, and finally, the conductor came aboard. And away we went. Cramped, smelly and incredibly bumpy, it was a ride I'll never forget. 

But who needs a tro tro when there are taxi drivers like my new best friend, Appiah.

Appiah to the rescue!