Transportation in Ghana is incredibly organized chaos. The vast majority of the country does not have private cars, meaning that people use public transport. Public transport in Ghana looks like this: trotros, which seat anywhere from 12-18 people (or often more!), share taxis and finally charter or dropping taxis.
Trotros are basically big vans, or minibuses that work the same way as buses, minus one’s personal space. Fare on trotros is pretty cheap and your chances of getting a trotro to where you want to go are always pretty high – typically is this the mode of choice.
Share taxis are taxis that work on the same basis as trotros, they have fixed rates and routes, just less people, so the rates tend to be a bit higher. Dropping or charter taxis are like the taxis we know at home. They’re pretty expensive and generally not worth the extra money despite having your own space.
I can honestly say that I’ve never had a boring trotro ride. Something interesting, entertaining or surprising always happens, from fights breaking out to making friends who have proven valuable in assisting on the next leg of the journey – it all happens on a trotro in Ghana!
For instance, myself and 2 others were in Accra, wanting to get a trotro heading east to Hohoe. This happened to be on Boxing Day and the station was pretty busy, and as the Hohoe trotro approached where we were waiting and then there was a STAMPEDE to get on the trotro! The three of us fought our way on and were all sat down, only to be told to get out because the driver was charging too much, so we didn’t end up going. As we were trying to get out, the people that didn’t get on in the first stamped began rushing the trotro. We managed to get out and finally got ourselves into another trotro, survived another mini stampede and then we were off.
The three of us were sitting in the back seat and we’re driving along, a couple of hours into our journey and we hear a loud click. I should mention that when I say the back seat, I mean the VERY back seat. So far back that the seat was in the trunk and actually folded down and then we sat on it, with the back of the seat resting on the trunk door.
We hear this loud click and the seat shifted a little. We looked at each other and looked to where we thought we heard the click. The seat had unhinged and now the back part of the seat was LEANING on the trunk door. Given that we’re in Ghana, it was not a smooth ride to begin with and each time we hit a bump, we saw a small crack of sunlight between the car and the trunk door, so we would need to lean forward each time we hit a bump because we were afraid the door would pop open and we would fly out! These were likely irrational thoughts, but that’s what we were afraid of.
Since the seat folded down, we were essentially sitting on people’s luggage and other cargo. As we started to approach the destination, people started to get out, which ignited feelings of anxiety that if the driver opened the trunk, the seat would fall out of the back!
When we finally arrived, the driver came around back and opened the trunk and to our dismay and delight nothing at all happened.
Another time I was leaving my village to head to a group meetings. To get out of my village, I needed to take a 15-20 min taxi ride that cost 50 pesawas (about 50 cents). These would be normal-sized cars and we would put 4 people in the back seat and two people, plus the driver in the front seat. This particular time, I was one of the middle people in the back and the front seat was a little bit broken so it was reclined a little further than usual and digging into our legs. About ¾ of the way to the junction, the car just stops. The driver was having problems starting it. So, for almost the entire last bit of the ride, we literally rolled almost to the junction (mostly downhill) and then the driver got the car started once again.
Ghanaian highways leave a lot to be desired in terms of their construction. They are bumpy, narrow and people drive a little bit like maniacs at times. People pass as if they’re playing chicken, drive on the shoulder, sometimes even on the shoulder of the other side of the road.
The village taxis are much less strict rules and you will often find the arrangement I mentioned before with 4 people in the back and 2 plus the driver in the front, but with a couple of kids on the laps of people in the back! Another time, I was in a trotro and they had one extra person in the trotro because this extra person was going to get off fairly soon, but we happened to pass by a police check point, and the mate (the person who is in charge of taking the money and getting people dropped off at the right spots, had to squeeze down on the floor to hide from the police!
There are countless more stories of such events, but they get tiring after a while. Perhaps I’ll save those for conversations. If I had my camera cord, I could post some photos of trotros, but you will have to wait until I get back and upload all of my photos.
Safe and happy travels until next time!
