Mass Transportation in Buluk

Transportation in Buluk can best be compared to embarking on a risky voyage. Nothing short of it! Just imagine pregnant women standing in a bus to make a 32km journey; old and weary men and women jostling with people qualified to be their children just to get a seat on a bus; and disabled folk trying hard to get a means of transport through a competitive crowd. That's the situation of mass transportation in Buluk these days. Ever since the Metro Mass Transit (MMT) company ventured into the land of Buluk with their buses, all other means of transport got relegated to the background.

Nobody fancies the minivans anymore (unless you're really stuck) except the roads which MMT doesn't ply. From my own small research, I can confidently say many people crave for the MMT buses because of reliability, affordability, and security, some of which are often lacking in the other buses and minivans.

Image Courtesy: Modern Ghana

However, the MMT buses are often inconvenient for people who want to reach their destinations on time. They stop at any point, both approved and unapproved bus stops, either for passengers to get on board or for others to alight. The drivers of these buses don't know how to refuse passengers along its way even if it is fully overloaded! A lot of time is also often wasted unnecessarily due to this behavior.

These buses surprisingly don't have basic tools like spanners on them. They don't have spare tires either. So no nut can be tightened back if it gets loose in the course of the journey.

The Metro Mass buses often overload passengers too (mostly those plying routes where the roads are terrible). The company makes so much from those buses without servicing them. Most of their buses are now only qualified to be called death traps. Some of the doors of these buses can't close to provide the needed safety and there are neither seats nor anchors to hold in these buses. One would have thought a company of the stature of the MMT should be advocates of the national policy on wearing of seat belts and other policies relating to mass transportation. But no, it is not part of their plans, and the government seems not to care!

The MMT now only survives on their comparatively low fares. They are therefore the buses of choice for the disadvantaged in our society compared to the huge fares of the other buses and minivans. Don't get it twisted. The wealthy in our society also patronize these buses for the same reasons stated above. This is now the only weapon they use to shortchange the poor in our society.