A BRT in Oshodi bis Terminal, Lagos
It will be ideal to start this post up with a little introduction to the beautiful city of Lagos. Lagos is an Island city of 1,171 km² with a population of over 26m people making it the most populous city in Africa. Lagos doesn’t Sleep like they say, activities span almost for 24 hours.
This post is about commuting in Lagos, my personal experience from a single day. Left home with the intent of driving from Ajah to my client’s office in Mile 2 (a 35 miles trip) for a stock taking, little did I know I was going to use 5 different types of vehicles for my supposedly 3 hours trip back and forth.
I got driving, got stock in traffic and figured out it will be a waste of energy to drive under such horrible traffic. So I parked my car in a safe parking, Jumped on a commercial bike and headed for the BRT Bus station in Ajah. Thankfully my bus card (Cowries) was handy and funded. I called my host and gave my ETA for about 1 hour 35 minutes which unfortunately was 30 minutes later thanks to the traffic. The BRT stopped at Oshodi bus station. I got a ride from one of the car hailing app to my destination. I finished my meeting and stock taking and it was time to leave. getting a cab wasn’t reasonable as I would mean taking a long turn where I’ll be stuck in traffic. So I walked towards the road, crossed the expressway (This is very dangerous TBH), I flagged and boarded a Danfo Bus back to Oshodi BRT Bus terminal 3. The Danfo typically has 3 or 4 rolls of four seats each, has no air conditioning, no timing, no dedicated seat for the bus conductor who would often “hang” by the open doors throughout the ride to “shadow” passengers (call out for prospective customer to board his bus) and collect fare.
Caption: A Lagos Danfo bus with a conductor see. Standing by the doorway.
Unfortunately my Danfo stopped me a few miles away, and as I was getting tired already, I boarded a Keke (I know this is popular in India but do not know what its called) this took me to the front of the bus terminal.
Caption: My selfie on the walkway of the Oshodi bus terminal
Of course I stopped by to grab a quick bite in one of the spots within the bus terminal. Lagosians typically eat in transit but thats not my kind of thing.
At the bus terminal wait in queue time can range from 3-15 minutes depending on rush and typically there are no timing for departure (the exact opposite of what is found in western countries). The bus takes off when fully boarded. In my own case I waited about 10 minutes in queue before a bus came.
Caption: Oshodi BUS terminal with people in long queues waiting to board the BRTs
These buses have a lot of modern facilities including free wifi, USB charging ports, seat belts, air conditioners, CCTV cameras, a dedicated seat for passenger on wheelchair, fire extinguishers etc ; although they are sometimes be sub-optimally maintained.
The rest of the journey was as it started in reverse order. In other cases, a boat transportation will also be included in the journey as well.
Other popular means of transport in Lagos Includes:
Ferries
Open boats
Trains and of course
Air planes
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