The Joys of Mauritian Transport

We live on buses. Luckily they’re quite cheap. Katie and I each pay 24 rupees (almost a 50pence) each way, to and from Namaste everyday. There’s no air conditioning so all the windows slide open. It’s like a big wind machine! I’m always so conscious of my hair flying about everywhere if it’s not tied up!

Mauritian buses run on Africa time, which is one of the most frustrating feelings. There’s no timetable so you have absolutely no idea when they are going to show up. You could be waiting little or no time! Which is incredibly annoying, especially if you have somewhere to be! The locals seem to have these weird intuitions about what time the buses will come. They’ll gather at the bus stop at exactly the right time. I’m so jealous.

Mauritian bus drivers also drive very fast and overtake at the most inappropriate and reckless of times. The buses are incredibly old and they’re obviously not built for speed. We were told quite an amusing story the other day about a bus catching fire. The driver was going too fast and there had been some accumulating friction in the engine, which is why it inevitably caught fire! Apparently the driver didn’t notice at first. Luckily his attention eventually diverted and he smashed the glass fire extinguisher box before spraying the foam everywhere! I hope he learnt a lesson that day… Probably not…

Some things I don’t like about the buses…

Mauritians can be incredibly impatient. When the bus arrives at the last stop, everyone will rush to the front to get off. So often, no one will let me out and I’ll be last to get off the bus regardless of the fact that I was only two rows from the front.

Also, many people like to sit on the aisle seats (I’m not sure why…) and when others get on the bus they don’t move and expect people to shimmy past them to the window seat! This has happened to me a couple of times… I’ve always been tempted to stick my bum out in their face just to annoy them…

We’ve had a little trouble with some of the bus conductors. They think that because we’re foreigners we don’t care if we’re given the correct change or not. We do care! So often we find ourselves double checking change and the prices on our tickets. We’ve been ripped off a few times and it is so annoying. One time, on our way to Flic en Flac a bus driver short-changed us by 20 rupees! Katie was absolutely fuming. She may have subconsciously given the conductor some death stares…