For many individuals in Ghana, the movement from one place
to another over a long (or short) distance is only made possible by the trotro.
“Trosky”, as it is mostly called by the youth in an attempt to make it sound
cool, is the most used form of transportation in the country. It’s just a
simple bus with a driver and a conductor who usually collects the money and
prompts the driver when passengers want to get off- they are usually called
“mates”. Whether it’s going to work, school, the mall, church, etc. many people
rely on the trosky to help them get to their destination.
Although it is the
most used form of transportation in Ghana, it is not the most favourite form of
transportation for most people. Don’t get me wrong, it has brought a lot of
benefits to Ghanaians since it came in the 1900’s however factors such as the
uncomfortable seats, poor body maintenance, rude mates (not to talk about negative
body odour) amongst other things can make a trip a little bit annoying.
On my last trosky trip from school to my house, I had a very
annoying encounter with the mate who for a “senseless” reason did not tell the
driver that I would alight at the next junction. This human being (and let me
tell you, I gave the mate a heads-up) decided not to tell the driver of my plan
to alight soon because he thought the driver had heard me when I mentioned it. I
had to alight at a further junction and walk twice as much as I would have if I
had gotten down at my junction. (And let me tell you my house is NOT a stone
throw away from the junction- it’s an ocean!) On my walk home, I had to try and
control my facial expression because I didn’t want to scare other pedestrians
off with the angry look that was slowly creeping on my face, safe to say I did
not succeed.
Now for most Ghanaians who use the trosky, my story is not a
surprise. For some, it cannot be compared to what they’ve experienced, like how
one of my friends was not given her 15 cedis change on time by the mate and
ended up getting off the car without collecting it. Therefore, she “dashed” the
mate 15 cedis for free! I can tell you that since then, even if she had 1 cedi
change with the mate, she wouldn’t wait for 5 minutes to inform the mate of her
impending money, and if it didn’t come, hell sure will break loose in the car. Now
I’m sure after reading the first part, you might be wondering if something has
been done to counter all these outrageous menaces. Well my friend, this is
where technology comes in!
Over the past years,
most agencies including the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), have registered
the “wahala” citizens face with the trosky. In 2016, the AMA in partnership
with Agence Française de Developpenent (AFD) and Meltwater Entrepreneurial
School of Technology (MEST) launched a 2-day challenge that aimed at creating
an app that would help deal with the frustration that is associated with taking
the trosky. According to their research, 70% of Ghanaians use the trosky and as
such it is important to find ways to make it comfortable and less stressful for
passengers. The challenge saw people come together to create apps that would
allow people to order their rides, combat uncomfortable seating, and not have
any trouble with who will take their money and when their change will be given
to them. The winners of the challenge were the creators of Mo’Go, the CEO Ray
Fifii Nkum and his accomplices. Although Mo’Go hasn’t made a name in the
Ghanaian market, it has paved a way for other trosky apps to spring up, the
most recent one being Comfy Transport.
Comfy Transport is an online website that allows you to
order a trosky to assist you on your journey. Launched in August 2019, it is
slowly creeping up the radar of most citizens in Accra. The website gives
information about where pickup is going to be available (which is mostly along
the Adenta-Accra road) and allows passengers pay for their fares via mobile
money. All one has to do is to enter the link www.comfytechnologies.com, select
the days one wants to board the ride, and then follow the steps to completing
the request then just like that, one is able to sit in a comfortable,
air-conditioned, neat, non-smelly trosky without the trouble of fighting with a
mate for your own money!!!
This is a great addition to the world of transport in Ghana.
As technology is making significant changes in agriculture, education, finances
(thank God for MoMo!), It’s quite refreshing that the world of Ghanaian
transport has not been left out. With taxi app services springing up and
charging and card services being added to the ayaalolo, it’s about time a new
angle was added to the area of trotro.
I am very happy about
the starting up of comfy transport and I hope that more websites and apps will
be created to cater for the Ghanaians who take the trosky all the time. I mean, we
have Uber, Bolt, Yango, etc. it will make a great difference if we see more
trosky apps emerging, at least that might prompt those arrogant mates to treat
passengers well and give us back our hard-earned money “na nipa su y3 person!”
BY: ABIGAIL ADEYEMI.
GIFS: TENOR.COM.
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