We don’t have large passenger busses here. Anyone interested in taking public
transportation uses a combi, which is a minibus. And in reality, it isn’t even a bus. It is a van.
Combis are small vans which can hold about 14 passengers plus a driver.
However, these are not nearly as large or as safe as the 15 passenger vans you
think of in the U.S.
While combis can technically accommodate 14 people,
often they hold many more than that. The
driver only makes 3.5 pula per person (which is equivalent to about 40 cents)
so they try to pack their combis as full as possible. As a result, they often look like clown
cars. It’s not uncommon to have 18
people in a combi. But the record (at
least in my experience) was a combi I rode about a week ago which transported
22 people simultaneously in one trip.
There are certain rules when riding in a combi:
1. Don’t
speak to anyone, even if you board with a friend.2. Don’t complain about having to share personal space with those around you.
3. Pay attention and request your stop within a reasonable amount of time. If you don’t call out “Wea me mo stopong” (Next stop please) in time, you will have to wait until the following stop.
The interesting thing about the combis is that many
of them have names. For instance there
is “Walala Wasala” (You snooze, you lose), The Mamas and the Papas, and my
favorite: Ninjas. Ninjas was recently listed for sale which I find particularly
hilarious as the back windshield now reads “Ninjas for Sale.” Each time I climb out of Ninjas I have to restrain myself from shouting, “Yi-ya!” while
doing my best karate chop and kicking a faux nemesis mid-air.
To give you a visual, here is the combi stop in my
neighborhood:
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