A Typical Ride on the Tro-tro

On Tuesday afternoon after class I went to the Medina market (a market in the town of Medina) in order to buy fabric, which I will hopefully get made into a dress. In order to get to the Medina market, I took a tro-tro. Tro-tros are basically the size of a 15 passenger van. They typically have four benches and then the front seats (also a bench). These vans are designed to fit as many people as possible. The biggest problem is that there’s never enough room for my long legs – my knees are always scrunched against the seat in front of me. 4 people fit across each row. The back bench is a four person bench, but the other benches are three person benches with a seat that folds down to form a fourth seat. These block off access to the back row, so they are used once the row behind is full. This also means that if someone in the back row needs to get out at a stop, all those in these seats must move so that there is an aisle again. A full tro-tro has 17 passengers in it, plus a driver and a mate. Two people sit up front with the driver, and the mate sits in the back by the door since he mans the door. If another passenger wants to get on at this time, sometimes they will squish in and share a seat with the mate. The more people in the vehicle, the more money the driver and mate will make! In my experience, a tro-tro driver and mate generally wait until a tro-tro is full before leaving the stop. Whenever someone gets off, a new rider is generally waiting to get on. Of course, I ride generally in the city and during busy times. I would imagine that at less busy times, in less populated places, or at less popular stops the tro-tros would leave even if they weren’t quite full. I usually get on at the University which is a very popular stop, or at one of the main stations in Accra.

In order to get on the right tro-tro, you have to listen to what the mate is calling. They will call out their final stop, or the general direction in which they are going. You can always ask a mate if your stop will be included. When you are at a large station in Accra you can ask any mate or driver for your stop, and they will point you to where you can find a tro-tro to take you there. There are also hand motions that correlate with the stops, like moving finger in a circle for the Circle stop and pointing downward and forward for Tema Station, the main station I’ve been to in Accra. When I am returning to campus, I have to ask the mate if they are going to Legon. That is where the University is. While we were in Medina yesterday, we were looking for a tro-tro back to Legon. We were just walking down the street and as a tro-tro passed I asked the mate (who was hanging out the window, which is their typical position) “Legon?” He said yes and waved us forward. We had to follow the tro-tro as it turned the corner onto a less busy street where it could pull off and wait for us to board. When the tro-tro is full, the driver will leave. The mate will often bang twice on the side of the van to signal to the driver that he should stop or take off. This is much easier than yelling forward and across the van. Once the tro-tro is on its way the mate will ask for payment. He starts in the front of the tro-tro and everyone passes their coins to him. This transaction is done fairly quietly; sometimes without comment. Most people know how much their ride will cost. We pass forward money and return change without too much difficulty. The ride to Medina, about 15 or 20 minutes, cost 25 peswas (about 25 cents). A ride into Accra is a little longer and costs 30 peswas to get there and 40 peswas to get back. I’m not sure why it costs more to get back, but whatever. I am always impressed by the mate’s ability to remember who gets on and off and who he still needs to collect payment from when the tro-tro lets off passengers and picks up new ones. In fact, Ghanaians have generally impressed me with their memories, especially of names. Even as a large group of 17 students, most people we meet remember a lot of our names after we go around in a circle and say our names once.

The tro-tro vehicles are an experience in and of themselves. The vehicles are often older. During rush hour last Friday we were going along, and as we hit a traffic jam, the mate ran out and bought a bag of water (500 mL of water – an individual sized bag) from a woman selling them (sellers walk in between the cars, like people collecting donations for things in America, and sell things they are carrying on their heads to people through car and tro-tro windows. We have bought water bags, chocolate bars, plantain chips which are like potato chips, and toilet paper from tro-tro windows, but I’ve seen things like clocks and scales near the US Embassy – a richer part of town – and other things such as bags of grapes, sugar cane, and tangerines). Anyway, our mate bought a bag of water and proceeded to pour it under the hood, probably to cool off the engine. That was probably the sketchiest tro-tro I had been on! I think that since it was rush hour, the tro-tro had been running all day and was just getting hot. Friday’s experience during rush hour was also atypical because while I tried to push through the immense crowds of people outside of the tro-tro waiting to get on, my phone was pickpocketed. Luckily it was just one I had bought here for 40 cedis (about 40 dollars). I did buy a new one yesterday, and it was cheaper than my first – it was only 36 cedis! My number is 011 233 24 029 3383. If you have the ability to call or text internationally, you should!

This has gotten longer than I expected, but hopefully this description of public transportation will give you a little bit of a better idea of what my life is like here!