Going somewhere?

I have been "on my own" meaning living in my village without having the Peace Corps holding my hand for 7 months now and I think I've mostly figured out transportation.

Since coming here I have traveled using a Khombi(public taxi), Khombi (public distance taxi), private taxi, city bus, bus line, car. The most popular form of travel in the rural areas is the Khombi which is completely different from any kind of transportation available in the U.S. I will now attempt to breakdown how the whole system works


The Vehicle

Public taxis are large vans with 4 rows of seating. There is the old style that seats 2+the driver in the front row, 3+one fold down seat in the 2nd and 3rd rows, and 4 squished in the back; all seating is bench seating with no headrests. Although old and beaten up, the taxi drivers clean them inside and out every chance they get so it is probably one of the cleanest forms of public transport. The new style look kind of like astro van shuttle buses with a seating arrangement of 2+ the driver, 3,3,3, and 4 in the back; all seats are captains chair style with headrests.

Boarding the Khombi

There are two methods for boarding the khombi: 1) at a taxi rank 2) flagging one down and boarding on the side of the road.

If you board a taxi at a shopping centre or another popular place you usually board at a taxi rank which is like a bus station for taxis. There are cues (lines of taxis) in stalls marked to correspond to their destination; the true destination often doesn't match the stall marking. Remote villages often have these only they go to fewer locations.

Each rank is managed by a cue marshall who will tell you where to go if you are polite and simply say "Lotjhani, ninjani?" (hello, how are you?). Greeting is very important here and if you don't greet someone it is disrespectful and they usually will be less helpful. The cue marshall is also responsible for maintianing order. This includes: quelling arguments between taxi drivers; shooing away hawkers (people who sell the most random stuff possible that is attached to a piece of cardboard), drunks, and crazy people; and collecting money from the drivers. For using the taxi rank, the taxi drivers have to pay a portion to the cue marshall. Keep in mind, taxis don't leave the rank until they're full; that might be 2-4 minutes or 2-4 hours so brace yourself and be patient. Which makes the 2nd option more appealing.

The other option in rural areas is to flag one down on the side of the road. Picking up passengers on the roadside can sometimes be easy and other times very hard. If a driver has additional seats in his taxi he will honk at every person walking within a quarter mile of the taxi to see if they need a ride, drive backwards to meet you, and cut off buses to get to you first. To flag down a taxi you either point down for in town or up for out of town. The proper technique for pointing down is extending your arm straight out, clench your fist, and point at the ground using your pointer finger. The technique for pointing up is similar. Again, clench your fist and point upwards using your pointer finger making sure to form a 90-degree angle with your arm holding your lower arm approximately parallel to the ground. I have tried the more Travolta-like point and it won't get the the taxi stop but you may get a few funny looks from them as the drive by. When the driver stops, you tell him where you're going and he will let you know if he is going that way and if he is, you get in. It is fairly straighforward if you're on a rural road; you're either going this way or that way so you just stand on the side of the road in the direction you want to go (don't forget that they drive on the left side of the road here).

In cities the ranks are the same but hailing a taxi is a little different. Since there are many more places taxis can go there are many more options. First, if you have no idea what direction to go, ask somebody who is near you and they will tell you the general direction that you need to go. Then you stand on that side of the road and flag down a taxi by point upward (arm angle and position are not as important). Ask the taxi driver if he is going where you want to go and he'll either tell you yes and get in, or that you should be on the other side of the road, or direct you to a nearby rank that will take you where you need to go.

Sometimes if a driver picks up people going to multiple different places he meets other taxi drivers at a consolidation point. These aren't officially marked and there isn't anyone coordinating this effort at that location. 2-3 taxis meet at a seemingly random place, the drivers get out, find out where each other's passengers are going, and then either you, or other passengers get out and move to the other taxi so that your destinations match. Eventually you'll get put on the right taxi to take you to the right place.

In cities the taxi ranks are pretty much the same only they are usually just a line of taxis cued along a sidewalk.

Choosing a seat

Choosing a seat is very important for the inexperienced rider. If you sit in the front seat, you have the benefits of the view, more legroom, and higher chance of a working seatbelt. The drawback is that you are the driver's personal cashier. If the money is short (it should equal 13 x fare) then you have to either pay it yourself or try and figure out who didn't pay.

The person in the middle seat of the 2nd row is the money handler so when the taxi is full and about to take off people start handing you money and you have to sort it out which can be overwhelming and confusing.

A window seat gives you control of the opening and closing the window as you please. If someone in front or behind or next to you they will indirectly let you know or reach over and shut it themselves. This is where you have to negotiate through trial and error until you and the other passengers are satisfied with the amount of airflow coming into the taxi.

Sandwiched in the middle of the middle rows is the safest place in case of a crash (or so our Safety and Security Co-ordinator Gert tells us) but can result in being squashed. This also gives you the option of combining your money with the other passengers so the person in the front doesn't have to make change; instead of handing the person in the front three 10R bills for three people fr a 7R fare you can send 21 to the front for 3 and work out the change amongst yourselves; the people in front really appreciate this.

The fold-down seat next to the door is convenient if you are one of the first people to get off but becomes a chore otherwise. You have easy access to exit but if people in the backrows are getting off before you, you have to get out, fold the seat up, let the person out, fold the seat down, and get back in. Many of the taxis don't have a working inside door handle so it also becomes your job to open the window, reach outside, and open the door from the outside.

The backrow is usually the worst. since that's the seat where they always put 4 people. When I sit in the back it's very rarely a pleasant experience. Usually I'll sit next to a woman with a rather large bottom and then another woman with a large bottom will sit next to me and feel like cartoon character that finds himself stuck in a bottle or something else really small. I have had times when I was sitting in a more favorable seat and then we picked up another large woman and they looked at the space available in the back, looked at the size of the woman getting on, looked at me, and then we all realized that my bottom was much more suited to cram into that space than hers was; and I found myself in the back again. The other problem is the ceiling is lower so I often hit my head.

Paying

Payment occurs in one of two ways, either at the rank, or in the khombi once it is moving. At the rank it is easy because someone walks around the outside of the khombi and collects your money and provides you change. If you wait until you get moving to collect the money then it becomes more challenging for the passengers. The accounting system seems very haphazard but somehow it works. As previously noted, the person sitting in the front seat is responsible for collecting the money from the other passengers and counting it to make sure everyone paid.

The "moneyhandler" sits in the middle seat of the 2nd row. Money starts pouring in from the back. One person hands you 100 Rand and says "2" so you hand the money to the person in front and tell them it's for "2". They then calculate the change required, count it out, and send it back. Then the moneyhandler takes the change and announces it to the person behind them, if that's where the money came from, and people play telephone until it gets back to the rightful owner. It is amazing the honesty and efficiency at whcih all of this is handled. However, it's not just one bill. Usually you will have someone hand you a 50 to pay for three people then a 10 to pay for one and 100 to pay for two people all at the same time. Fortunately you can just shout your question back and people will clarify it for you.

To ease the pain of making change, rows sometimes combine their fares and pass exact change to the front which makes it much easier. However, sometimes you'll have a group who has been saving theier coins especially for that ride. They will give you about 20 coins t pass forward which often get dropped then you have to search for and locate then pass it forward again. You have to pay attention to whether or not the bill they are handing you has change in it because it will save you and them a lot of trouble.

If you are not ready to do any money handling other than your own then you should probably sit near the back and hope to combine your money with someone else's.


Alighting

In South Africa you don't get off of a taxi, you alight from it. There are no official stops other than the taxi ranks you have to tell the driver when to stop. You get the driver to stop by shouting "short left" and indicate the location (at the corner, at the 4-way stop, etc.) and then hopefully he'll stop; and then you alight. If you are unfamiliar with the area, a combination of the taxi driver speeding through the streets, and street signs placed in obscure, hard to find places, you can easily go blowing by where you intended to get off. Not shockingly, this has happened to me on many occasions.

After a few traumatising experiences and some practice it becomes 2nd nature and it becomes a cheap convenient way to travel.