Public Transportation

In Ghana, I didn't really have a car of my own, even though I drove occasional. My dad would lend me his car especially when I was in school. His workplace was very close by my university so I would go there anytime he was around to take his car so I would cruise on campus.
When I started working, I was lucky enough to have a colleague who always drove by me house, so I would join him to and from work everyday. Sometimes I missed my 'ride' because I woke up late.

Even though I had these opportunities there were still times when I had to take public transportation. In Ghana, the common ones were Taxi's or Trotros(small to large buses). I think its called Danfos in Nigeria. With the public transportation, what I hated most was the times waiting for a bus. I just didn't like hearing 'oh I saw you by the roadside the other day'.

A lot of times during the morning and evening rush hours most cars were full and you'd have to wait for a long time to get one. And even if you were lucky to get a car with one free seat, you had to struggle with other potential passengers, and yes the strongest elbows always won.
I always had a bad experience when I picked the buses which had preachers in them. It was either I was sitting close to the preacher; which meant apart from having to deal with the very loud preacher voice, I also had to accommodate saliva from the preacher. There were also times when I felt like they were talking about me, for instance I was on my way to work wearing trousers, when this preacher woman was talking about how it was an abomination in Gods eyes for a woman to wear trousers, all the while staring directly into my eyes.

Taking trotros with a group of friends was always fun because there would always be something to laugh and talk about. Most times also, you were bound to have an interesting time just observing people. Taking a troski (as we liked to call it) was never incident free, and anything could happen from arguments between passenger/passenger, driver/passenger, mate/passenger or even mate/driver, and I found it interesting to just watch, without lending my voice to the argument.
P.S The mate is the one who collects the fares.

Taxi's are a more comfortable option, but it was also the more expensive option. I only took taxi's when it was extremely necessary, like when I was going for an important function and wanted to get there looking my fresh. Even at that I liked to cut corners. If I knew I could pick a trotro without hustling up to a certain point, I do that and I only pick the taxi's to my final destination which would then be only a short distance.

Now living in America, I didn't have my license for sometime, so  I had to resort to public transportation when my husband travelled out of town. The good thing about it was that I could plan everything about my trip, right from the designated bus stop, to the time the bus would depart, to the time it would arrive at my destination and  the total fare just from a mobile application. Most of the buses are also Air conditioned. I would normally buy a days pass for $5, and this would take me on multiple trips anywhere I wanted.

 

 Each bus and train route have a  name, and all you have to do is to find the right bus stop. Even with that, the app will always direct you to that bus stop.
But you know, pubic transportation is not always smooth here, there was this time that 2 buses running a particular route broke down, so there were delays in the arrival times and also the buses were packed like sardines, as was the case in Ghana. The only difference is when this happens, you would be told ahead of time that there are some problems, and also the bus conductors apologized when you entered the bus.
Also one  thing I noticed was that the buses and trains have reserved seats for the aged and disabled, and you are cautioned not to sit there if you didn't fall in those categories.
As for the occasional crazy behavior I am yet to witness any as I find that with the exception of kids and teens, most passengers sit quietly with ear pieces over their ears.