TROTRO TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Transportation is any system of taking people or goods from one place to another. Transportation in the past is not the same as the present. Horses, donkeys, camels were used then carriages and coach and it has evolved over the years.

Transportation is central to people’s lives, because it makes movement from one place to the other easier.

In Ghana, there are varieties of ways in which people can use to move people from one place to another. Each of the transportation system has it pros and cons.

Each article will reveal the different forms of transportation; “trotro” (mini vans), Buses (metro mass), taxis, and privates cars, and the “okada” motor bikes). To begin with is the “trotro.

The most important way of transportation in Ghana is the Tro-Tro,   Tro-Tro is every vehicle that is bigger than a normal car and smaller than a bus.

The name Trotro originated from a Ga word “Tro” which means three pence (pence being the penny coins used during Ghana’s colonial days). In the colonial days, the mass transit vehicle charged passengers three pence per trip, and thus was referred to as "tro-tros," and the name has stuck ever since.

 Tro-tros are as common on Ghanaian roads as potholes. These minivans provide a vital public service by transporting up to twenty passengers around the city and countryside.

It reflects the religiosity of Ghanaians. Many of them carry spiritual messages: "Come to Jesus," "Have you prayed today?" I've even seen "God's Tro-tro" grace the streets of Accra, as if its sole duty were to spread the word of God.

 Tro-tros are privately owned and operated: run by the people for the people. Reaching your destination is like crossing the finish line in a race.

Though its affordable and easily accessible, trotro is a slow moving vehicle, not that it can’t move fast, but it driver and mate will make sure they fill up every seat and they do this by stopping at every point to pick passengers and sometimes do not even care if its full or not. This makes it travelling very difficult, uncomfortable and time consuming.

It’s sometimes too unhygienic to travel by this vehicle. This is because of the foul smell that emanates from the armpits of the conductors (mates) and some passengers.