Just keep moving
updated: Wednesday 04-02-2009
Most Lagosians prefer riding in the
moolue because it is cheap.Riding in the Lagos moolue, as Ayomide Owonibi documents in this piece, is a unique and exciting experience as the moolue serves to express various shades of experiences. However, she writes that with the innovations presently being pursued by the Lagos State government, the moolue culture may be nearing extinction.
Legendary Afro King, Fela
Anikulapo- Kuti, painted an accurate picture of life on the moolue bus when he made the “suffering and smiling” track. The lyrics of the song, which capture the experience of “44 sitting and 99 standin” passengers on the bus, is a euphemism that depicts how human bodies are squashed together in the aisles of the moolue.
Just like in the best-selling 90s American movie, “Speed”, where terrorists, policemen and ordinary citizens jumped from a moving coaster bus with much practiced agility and speed, the moolue bus in Lagos is a world of excitement. This is no movie: the events are played out in real time, space and action.
The rambling home-made metal contraption with a wooden tailboard and rusty doors moves at full speed. plumes of thick black smoke billow out of the exhaust, which seems to be dragging on the ground because of the excess load it is forced to carry.
The driver is a veteran ‘area boy’ with bloodshot eyes and a generally untidy appearance. A chewing stick hangs from the corner of his mouth regardless of the time of the day. Occasionally, he spits out of the window, targeting nothing in particular but drawing the ire of other road users.
The conductor hangs dangerously at the edge of the door, yelling out the bus-stops in a loud and raucous voice honed by years of living on the streets. His appearance is worse than that of the driver. Ugly scars criss-cross his face, an evidence of constant fighting in the line of his duty.He is an “area boy’’par excellence.
At each bus-stop is a wide group of people, ranging from market women, civil servants, artisans and students, to touts. Each of them has a mission :to outsmart the other so as to get on the bus as fast as they can, regardless of the circumstances or the consequences.
The driver and the conductor both have a mind of their own. The conductor yells out for the passengers to come on board, while the driver keeps moving without stopping for people to get on the bus.
Everyone knows the rule of the game, which is: ‘keep moving’. Morals, composure and simple ethics are shoved aside, as people scramble to get on the bus so as to secure a good position to sit or stand in as the case may be. Tempers flare, curses flow, as the wave of humanity struggles to get on the bus. More often than not, a sympathetic conductor helps a would-be passenger by hoisting him up on the moving bus.
Governor Babatunde Fashola.As the people settle down on the available seats, then spill out into the aisles, a mixed smell of unwashed bodies, sweat, farm produce and what-not mixed together to form the pungent odour that is common in all moolue buses in Lagos. Welcome to the world of the moolue, where almost anything is possible.
Despite the hardship encountered when boarding moolue buses, many Lagosians still prefer it to other means of transportion. Mrs. Sade Adeola, a fruit seller at Oshodi, said she preferred boarding the moolue because of the relatively cheap fares charged. “You can go to long distances for as low as N30.”
“My day is not complete if I don’t ride in a moolue bus,” said Taofeek, a local tax collector. “While on the moolue, I catch up with the latest gossip in town. It is always very entertaining. I met my current girlfriend on a moolue bus.”
Some other Lagosians, however, have other views about the moolue. They have negative stories to tell about their experiences on moolues.
“The environment is conducive for pickpockets and tricksters who rob innocent people of their possessions. I can’t stand the attitude of the drivers and the conductors who have no regard for human life,” commented Ladipo, a stock broker.
“If we all have choices, I don’t see any reason why anybody would want to ride in such filthy buses,’ said Abe, an electrician.
An emerging culture
Culture, they say, is a way of life. The culture of “rushing’’ buses in Lagos is gradually being replaced by a new and civilised method of queuing up. With Governor Fashola’s new BRT initiative, things are gradually changing. people now prefer to queue up for buses. In places like Ojodu, Berger and Ikeja, people have started queuing up without being compelled to do so. The good news has also spread to Akute in Ogun State, where people now queue up for buses without being compelled to do so.
Where is our Lagos?
“ Lagos is changing,” lamented an area boy. “I hardly believe I am in Lagos anymore.” A new Lagos State is emerging with new structures and ideals. The old Lagos is gradually fading away. As New York is known for its skyscrapers, Lagos is known for three things: the filth, the squalid congestion and the traffic situation.
The yellow mammy wagons popularly called moolues, which are an integral part of the history of Lagos, are not left out in this new era of change. The wind of change is blowing against moolues, as the Lagos State government is set to phase out their existence.
On January 21, moolue buses were prevented from carrying passengers in the bid to put a final end to their reign in Lagos . Many commuters complained about the insensitivity of the Lagos State government to the plight of the masses who could not afford other means of transportation. Many Lagosians appreciate the new change, but they still reminisce about the Lagos they used to know.
