Accra Trotro

What is a trotro on Ghana is one of the most asked questions about Accra city life. A trotro is a low fare city commuter bus. Few are purpose-built but most are converted vans which are fitted with seats to ferry passengers. They are usually brightly colored with flamboyant decor and conspicuous inscriptions denoting the operator's religious, philosophical or social idealogies. A trotro is a shared shuttle service with an average of 14 to 18 passengers. They do not have scheduleds but rather depart when full. Many have dedicated terminals for boarding and alighting whilst a few cruise the streets, foraging for passengers.

Accra trotro routes are mapped out by operators strategically. There are several ways drivers and unions run the routes. 1. Union approved routes For Accra trotro routes originated by the unions, roads or streets that traverse points with dense population - static or transient - are chosen as originating and destination points. The union is assured of outbound and inbound passengers. Sometimes the end points of some union routes are not populous but there are waypoints that are busy enough to guarantee sales. These official Accra trotro routes are the basis for calculation of official trotro prices. These official routes form 60% of all routes plied by trotro buses in the city of Accra. 2. Adhoc routes Then there are informal routes created by drivers and conductors. These Accr...

Accra trotro buses are taking the Abeka township route to Lapaz. Instead of the regular direct route from the Total filling station that passes through neighborhoods like Market and Post Office, the trotro buses now sometimes turn left at Abeka junction, maze through Nii Boi township and then turn right at the Mallam intersection to position themselves at the boarding bay; ready to pick passengers to Accra. The trotro route detour affords passengers going downtown Abeka or Nii Boi Town some comfort cos they can alight within the township and no longer need to walk from the original drop point close to the Post Office. The detour however means passengers looking to reach Lapaz quickly will encounter a longer trip.

The trotro buses that go to inner city destinations like Accra, Tudu, Okaishie are parked under the eastern overhead bridge at Kaneshie. They first stop at Obestebi Circle before picking either of two routes. The Abossey Okai route stops at Central mosque, Ayigbe Town, Estate, Korle Bu junction, Agbado, UTC, Akoto Lante, Post Office, then reenters the circuit through Accra Central to Kaneshie. If the operator chooses the Graphic Road route from Obetsebi, then it goes through Beyeeman Coldstore, Graphic,  Kingsway, then to Railways. Trotro buses that go through this alternate route have a different return trip. On the way back to Kaneshie, they pass through UTC, Tudu, Zenith Bank, then at Star Light, they turn west to Graphic, stop at Toyota House, Francopat cold store, then to Pam...

A view of the Circle interchange from the Kaneshie trotro station. This photo was taken in 2016 when the bridge was under construction. The steel guilders were offloaded by a low loader and then hoisted by a crane upwards,then welding crews adjoined beams till they form a seamless road.

This concave steel guilder overhangs the Circle Kaneshie trotro station. It provides access route to Accra for vehicles approaching atop from Osu. The road is part of the three tier Circle interchange built by the Mahama NDC administration in 2016 and adjudged to be the longest interchange in West Africa. This picture was taken during the construction stage. Today, the space below the overpass is an ultra modern bus terminal.

The Accra Oxford street mall trotro stop is between Papaye trotro stop and Goil stop on the Independence square Cantonments trotro route. Some of the trotro stops along the route include Danquah circle, Koala, GIS, Aquinas, and Lands.

Foggy day at Accra central railways trotro bus stop. The epicenter of the fog was around the GCB bank where visibility was only about 10 meters.

Trotro transport operators have indicated their contentment with the proposed legitimization of motorbike taxis commonly found in city squares in Accra. The pledge originates from the opposition NDC political  party's  manifesto. The one-passenger bikes facilitate the operations of the trotro drivers in unique ways - they ferry passengers through pedestrian-only passageways to trotro terminals where the patrons board the trotros. The operators are of the opinion that legalization will bring in it's wake regulation and training which will result in greater safety for other road users. Motorbike taxis do not pose any meaningful competition to trotros because they carry one passenger, do not have capacity for cargo (source of income for trotros) and travel short distances.

Trotro buses have resumed full boarding capacity. Seating arrangements were spaced out at the onset of the convid-19 epidemic to help minimize transmission of the virus from passengers. Its not known what precipitated the resumption of full seating because the reason for the initial restriction was due to 110 cases in Ghana which the government considered as alarming and thus intervened with the spacing rules. With over 20,000 cases now, it appears paradoxical that the safety rules have been repealed.