Taxi Brusse
Wednesday, March 8, 2006 at 10:43AM The third world equivalent of a greyhound bus, these Japanese not-so-mini vans are the only available means of long-distance overland travel. The Taxi Brusse <Bush Taxi> is a fun combination of taxi, camel caravan, and race car. They begin their trips at small ticket booths in every major town and city. These roughly constructed and negligently maintained shacks are home to the ticket salesmen. maintenance crew, baggage handlers, and are often overrun by street people begging for money and or selling quality "made in Chinois" products. There is usually a lot of commotion and general a strong and distasteful smell. Tickets can be purchased up to a few days before departure and right up until the brusse pulls away, which it won't do until at least every seat has been filled. The taxi brusse schedule isn't so much a schedule as a fantastically (as in fantasy not as in fantastic) optimistic best case scenario of possible departure times on an ideal day with another taxi company in another country three days ago. In other words, they are a lie. A 6:00 A< departure is (OMG I WON THE LOTTERY) lucky to leave by 7:00, happy to leave at 8:00 and probably leaving before noon... today.
Once all seats have been filled and the baggage is loaded on top, the brusse will abruptly take off from the station. After which it will immediately pit stop at the nearest gas station (why get gas before passengers are loaded? No, that would take forethought).
The brusse is filled to capacity with people, baggage, goods, livestock, puppies, spare automotive parts, and then just when you think the tire are going to explode and the roof is going to collapse, the baggage handlers kindly point you to your seat between 3 nuns and a pregnant woman who's nursing and assures you that your baggage is probably already up on top underneath the refrigerator and if not, then they'll make sure it gets up there while they load the other half of the luggage. Often the luggage tops out at a height of more than half the height of the van, resembling an ancient spice road camel caravan topped out with goods and bundled under a big tarp tenuously tied down with yarn, except that this camel is a Suzuki.
Once the brusse takes off from the station, all similarities with slow moving camels can be disregarded. Drivers seem to all have been trained in the amateur leagues of rally car racing. They appear to be engaged in a race against time, all other vehicles, pedestrians, and animals. (50,000 Ariary says I can get to Tana and back 3 times before your oxcart gets to Mevatanana!) They take wide turns, turn into the apex and accelerate out. They appear completely ignorant of the concept of a lane (roads are not painted with center lines, or any lines) or of western driving etiquette. They pass on the left, on the right, on bridges, off-road. They pass around blind turns, although they do have the sense to honk their horns to warn any car within earshot coming the opposite direction that instant death is a blink away. Clearly, the drivers are not paid by the hour.
Oddly though, there don't seem to be many accidents. There are always close calls and usually there are casualties, though almost exclusively of the canine and poultry variety, but I am told that they very rarely crash. During training, my language trainer said that the most common fatal accidents involve bridge collapse, which, while unsettling, is somewhat reassuring while not on a bridge.
In a few days I'm heading back to the capital. Wish me luck. I'll try to get a picture of my taxi brusse for you all, or maybe an action shot of a chicken bouncing of the windshield.
Reader Comments (2)
Especially if just the bus trip is this interesting.
Love,
JoLynn
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