Luckily I barely got stuck in traffic, only once I did on my way back from an American style house party I went with these guys.
(Shout out to Frico baby, Abdul and Adeolu), I would talk about this in an upcoming post called “spotting eye candy and the failed kiss”.
I was actually rather lucky, because I have heard some horror stories about traffic and how people get stuck in traffic for about 5 hours, I’m not about that life. Even in England when the train is late by 10 mins I get pissed let alone traffic for 5 hours , I would have ripped all my hair out off my head.
Traffic was fairly smooth on road BUT on foot when I was walking through Ikorodu Agric , I swear Okada ( motorbike- public transport) nearly ran over my foot, it was so real ,I nearly got hit by a car as well but that’s another story on IJGBB. They don’t care if you like lose your toe , in lagos its everyone for themselves in traffic.
There’s so much going on , it’s noisy and disorganised in the midst of it all people are hustling. I’m ashamed to say this but my uncle holds my hand -_- when I start panicking in the middle of the chaos just like 7 years ago. His friends made fun of me for this (wareva), “Dolapo, I saw someone holding a girl’s hand in Agric and I thought is that you? ”
Travelling in this chaos became more of a concern when I heard one of my uncles co workers died after getting hit by a truck and we went to the mortuary on the same day (that’s also another story in IJGBB), it was a very reflective moment for me.
I also went on the BRT, the BRT is basically a blue bus, there’s just a single deck. It has its own bus stops, shelter and its clearly organised stops so you know all the stops. It has a neatly uniformed driver , payment collector and a ticket inspector. It has an AC, A TV, contactless and paper payment. Oh yes !! there was the occasionally debate about politics between the passengers as well. But I’d never join in, I rarely spoke on public transport because I didn’t want anyone to hear my accent and I don’t want any special attention , if I had to talk, I spoke Yoruba (my native language) .The BRT was so convenient and relaxing better than the london buses but the queue didn’t make sense to me ( there was a queue for standing and another for sitting, I reckon it should be first come first serve. one queue) but overall it’s organised to be fair , it made me think about Nigerias great potential.
Oh yeah let’s not forget the yellow buses, they should be the trademark for lagos transport. They’ve been around since I was born.
The yellow bus is just a regular bus with two black stripes and the typical Christian quote sticker on it. There’s a driver and a conductor who the collects money.
The drivers ride rough , did they even get any training ? LOL, I swear the drivers think they are driving Hummers but it’s just a bus there’s only so much pot holes it can conquer. They love pot holes and maybe pot holes are just everywhere. They literally want to take up every pot hole rather than avoid and it just shakes the passengers up. One time I was in a Danfo and it was almost driving on its side and crossed a road really awkwardly. I remember once the lagos state Governor and his convoy drove past us whilst we were in a Danfo and a very interesting conversation started between the passengers( I wouldn’t go into details but your guess is most likely right).
There’s another double decker red bus as well, it’s an old bus , apparently it used to be the shit ( like the BRT) because of lack of maintainence, it’s just ugly now. I was looking for a different word to describe it but ugly suits it. Ugly and Jaga jaga (rough)
It made me think could this be the future of the BRT? ( oh no , I love the BRT).
Penultimately , there are the regular taxis as well. My aunty warned me about these, “if it’s old and raggedy you can take it , people don’t usually use classy cars as taxi” ,She said this so I wouldn’t get into a ‘one chance vehicle’ ( a kidnapping scam disguised as transport for public).
Last but not least we have the Keke-napep, by the way people don’t like walking in Lagos compared to London , I understood why really quickly when an Okada nearly ran over my foot ( no shit, I couldn’t believe it myself) also I didn’t feel safe walking on the side walks, it felt too risky.
Keke Napep and Okadas (motorbikes) became my best friend because I’ll rather not have my toes crushed, although I’d prefer walking especially if it’s up to 20 mins away.
Keke Napeps are basically tricycles with no doors , so it’s easy to get on and off. And it perfect for the weather , because cool breeze can come in through the doors as it gets really hot. I loved the thrill from Okada , it was felt dangerous almost sexy but I hoped I’ll be safe. I loved the bends and the wind in my hair, zooming past these slow bitches on four wheels and it was even more cool when you and someone else on a separate bike and we were going to the same destination .
Once I remembered holding on to the driver and he asked why I was holding him in a very “let go of me” way LOL, I thought “I’m scared bro but I loved it”
Erm that’s it on transport , bye for now folks.
