Transport in the Gambia

Transportation in this country has been an interesting experience. I live a few miles from the Brikama campus and take a ‘bus’ to work every day. The word bus is a little misleading. Really, it is a minivan which holds about 15 people, including the driver and his aprenti. So each morning, I walk out to the main road and wait until I see a minivan bowling along. If there is a young man hanging out the window shouting, I put my hand out and indicate I would like to be picked up. No young man hanging out the window lets me know that the bus is full. If there is space, the minivan careens to a stop. Sometimes on the road, sometimes they pull part of the way off. Did I mention the condition of the roads? The roads are mostly paved in the Gambia, but they are really only two lanes. They are typically built up from the surrounding areas, so there is a bit of a slope. The drop off from the road to the dirt slope is usually several inches. This makes pulling off the road to pick up passengers...a bit interesting. And remember, we aren't talking top of the line, off-road capable vehicles with wonderful tires and suspensions to handle rough roads. These are vehicles which reached the end of their useful life in some other country and came to the Gambia to retire. So the vehicle might pull part way off the road to pick me up. So I had to learn how to enter a vehicle that was tilted about 20 degrees, which is similar to climbing a cliff in my opinion. I then have to climb over other passengers who will just lean out of the way to let you squeeze past, all the while carrying my backpack which weights more than a large toddler. I am not a graceful person. I watch Gambians entering and exiting buses and just wonder how they do it. Picture a baby elephant trying to enter a minivan and you would be pretty close what I feel like entering and exiting the vehicle.

Now that I have covered the difficulty of entering the vehicle, let’s discuss the driving. Typically, there are streams of buses working the main roads. All in search of passengers. So this is a competition in which the bus in the front of the line is most likely to get the next passenger. This creates a frog-like game of bus jumping. One bus pulls over to pick up a passenger, all the ones behind it try to pass in order to get to the front of the line and get the next passenger. The one that stops will try to get back on the road as quick as possible, usually not even waiting for the apprenti to get back in the bus. It is not unusual for the apprenti to have to run and jump into the moving bus. So if you are one of the people sitting on the end by the door, the vehicle is typically moving long before the door is slid shut. It is shuts at all...a few days ago the door fell off went the apprenti tried to shut the door. I was sitting right next to the opening so that was interesting. And this is all before we start moving. While there are driving schools in the Gambia, that doesn’t mean you actually have to go in order to get your license. So I’m not too sure about the level of training that bus drivers receive. Typically, I am more worried about whether the vehicle will actually make it to my village rather than the driving capability of the driver. Although I do worry about the goats since they seem to step onto the road without looking both ways on a frequent basis. Maybe I could do some kind of traffic safety class for the goats in this country? Anyways, with the crazy, competitive line of buses driving at ridiculous speeds, going around vehicles that abruptly pull over to pick up passengers...I am not surprised that my colleague Edrisa is interested in doing a traffic injury study.

And then the fuel. On Tuesday, I show up at my junction to catch a bus. There seemed to be an unusual number of people waiting. Normally, if there is more than one other person waiting within 50 feet, I am surprised. There were more like 30 people waiting. Odd. It took 20 minutes to get a bus when I normally don’t wait more than a minute or two. And there seemed to be fewer buses on the road. I come to find out that there is a fuel shortage. For the whole country. I felt kind of luck to have gotten to work! Later on Tuesday, I had a meeting in Banjul with Edrisa which since Edrisa has a car, we didn’t have to worry about taking public transportation. Without thinking anything about it, I asked him to drop me off in Fajara so I could stop by the Peace Corps office. Mistake! Huge mistake! You would think that the taxis/buses would be running from the major intersections to the larger cities (like Brikama). Nope. I learned a lot about price gouging while waiting for two hours to get on a bus that afternoon. I tend not to be a person who likes crowds...thus I found it difficult to join the group of 30+ people that would mob each bus that pulled over. I kept thinking of the people that get trampled on Black Friday and how easy I would go down in a crowd of people desperate to get home. I made friends with a young student who had been waiting an hour when I showed up. We eventually left Westfield to try our luck at Serrekunda market. It was a good 15-20 minute walk, but it felt good to be doing something other than standing and waiting for a bus to pull up. I did eventually get on a bus (one that was only going part of the way toward my home) thanks to my new friend, Bakary. He pushed me through the crowd and onto the bus and didn't even make it on himself. I didn’t even get to thank him in the craziness of getting on the bus. So thanks Bakary! I got halfway, where the bus stopped, made up all pay and get off. Then they let us get back on to continue to Brikama...paying an additional fare. So what normally costs me 15 dalasi ended up costing me 22 dalasi. And then I remember that 22 dalasi is still less than a dollar. But still...taking advantage of a fuel shortage to overcharge!

This morning (Thursday), I left very early for school, not knowing how long it would take to get a vehicle. I approached my junction, happy to see only a handful of people waiting. A minute or two later, an empty gilly gilly pulls up and we all jump on. I think the fuel shortage is over. Yeah! Now I only have to worry about whether I am risking life and limb, not whether I will even have the opportunity to risk life and limb. Everything is back to normal!

Tomorrow I head to Bwiam with my HND III students for a field trip. Very excited to see more of the country! Then I travel home for an interview and wedding! Going to be exciting two weeks!