Every day I use a tro-tro as a form of transportation, and it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours to get to work or home. But that’s only the beginning. Every time it’s an adventure and something different happens, so here are of my two most memorable tro-tro rides thus far.

To start, I must give a brief explanation of a tro-tro. They can be small vans to large buses that can carry anywhere from 12-50 people. There are stops all over the city, and you never know exactly where they are. They are manned by a two person team, the mate and the driver. The driver is constantly honking at other vehicles and maneuvering through some of the craziest drivers I have ever seen while simultaneously listening to the mate telling him where to stop next. The mate is the one standing half in, half out of the tro-tro, yelling their final destination to almost every person we pass on the road, “ACCRA, CCRA, CCRA.” He is also the one in charge, determining tro-tro rates and handling the money. It does not look like an easy job.

One day on my way home from work, we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic and the tro-tro was jam packed with about 25 people. As the mate was collecting money from everyone who got on from the previous stop, two police officers were walking down the sidewalk parallel to the road. They saw the over-crowded tro-tro and pulled the mate out of the van window. He instinctively threw his wad of money to the driver and we continued to our destination, all while the mate was being yelled at by the policemen.

Surely I was confused, and I asked the person next to me what had happened. Apparently it is the mate’s responsibility to make sure the tro-tro does not exceed the maximum limit of people. I didn’t think a tro-tro could have a maximum limit of people because they always seem to be filled with too many humans, but I guess this time it was just too much.

On a separate day on my way home, there was surprisingly no traffic! It was remarkable. We were going down the highway about 50 kph and nearing my stop when suddenly, the sliding door on the tro-tro fell off. It almost took the mate with it, but luckily he was holding on to a seat. The driver quickly pulled to the side of the road, ran and grabbed the door, and he and the mate re-attached it as quickly as possible. We then proceeded back down the highway as if nothing had happened, and I assume that this was not the first time this had happened.