Trotro’s in Ghana

Commercial vans popularly known as ”TroTro”, are a cheap way of commuting and most of the locals preferred means of transportation in Ghana. They are common to find on the roads in Accra and other big towns. Traditionally, a four seater minivan like Toyota Hiace carries three people on a seat at ago whereas a five seater big van like Mercedes Benz sprinter carries four people on a seat at ago. Sometimes, many trotro overload passengers making sitting too tight and uncomfortable. You will mostly catch a trotro by standing beside a road to a direction where you are heading. You will then either see the driver’s mate making a hand sign or hear them shouting loudly, names of the location they are heading. Trotro’s are usually operated by two people thus a driver and his assistant popularly called “mate”. The driver is always the boss and mostly know the routes in which they commute. The “mate” on the other hand calls for passengers and also act as financial managers during time of work because they take the fares from passengers and gives back changes where needed. Catching a trotro at certain times of the day can be a headache due to the high demand. For instance it get busy in the morning around the hours of 6:00 am to 10:00 am and 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm in the evenings at certain commercial areas. Boarding a trotro can be dramatic sometimes, from some passengers not adjusting themselves well on the seats for enough space for other passenger’s to mates cum passengers arguments on prices of fares. Also you may see a preacher men or women and even hawkers in, especially ones that travel long distances. It can sometimes be interesting especially when topics of national agenda arises. Do catch a trotro just for a new experience next time you are in Ghana.