The Courier (Mohamed M. Sesay -Lucky) enjoying the smooth ride of ‘Waka Fine’ Bus.
By Mohamed M. Sesay (Lucky)
After the official unveiling of the ‘WAKA FINE’ Buses on the 29th of January 2024 by no less than a person but the Chief Minister Dr. David Sengeh and the First Lady of the Republic of Sierra Leone Madam Fatima Maada Bio, a three-day grace period from Tuesday the 30th of January 2023 to 1st of were set aside wherein, citizens and none citizens enjoyed free ride with the ‘WAKA FINE’ Buses. Unfortunately, The Courier joined the three-day free ride with the ‘WAKA FINE’ Buses.
As the adage says, ’curiosity kills the cat,’ and ‘’he who feels it knows it’’ gave the Courier a compelling urge to experience the smooth ride of the ‘WAKA FINE’ Buses. Ordinarily, my daily routine from home to work is as follows: I take a bike from my Kossoh Town Residence to Jui Junction at the fare rate of Le5. From Jui Junction to Wilberforce, the fare is Le 18 for Taxi. After arriving at Bottom Mango Wilberforce, I hired a bike with a fare of Le15 to my Main Motor Road Congo Cross Office. I pay this same fare from my Congo Cross Office to my House daily.
To fulfill my ballooning urge for a ride with the ‘WAKA FINE’ Buses, I left my Congo Cross Office at around 7:00 P.M. and hired a motorbike to the Bus Station at the fare of Le20. Upon arriving at the Bus Station, I saw a marathon queue of passengers waiting for both Calaba Town and Lumbly buses. I wanted to retrogress because the queue discouraged me. But I had to fulfill my urge, so I joined the queue. Five buses came in less than seven minutes, three for Calaba Town and two for Lumbly. So, we boarded the buses, and the sojourn commenced. The serial number for the bus ticket I boarded was HW33ZR2Y20. As we exited the Bus Station, another four buses came, two for Calaba Town and two for Lumbly.
With a loud, built-in Megaphone of the bus, the driver will announce for a passenger to be seated. You will hear him sounding like, ‘Una leh we go inside.’ The standardized passenger capacity of each bus is forty (40) passengers. However, the buses take an additional thirty (30) passengers who will stand but only at the volition of the passengers, especially at the pick hours, otherwise known as the Rush Hours.
The comfortability aspect of the ‘Waka Fine’ Buses outside rush hours.
Due to their unprecedented overloads, the buses’ long-lasting durability is becoming a public concern. One unique aspect of the ‘Waka Fine’ Bus is that the conductors attend strictly to those in the queue. There are indeed cameras in the buses and modernized sockets beside all the seats, which passengers used to change as they continued their sojourn.
There were cut-across murmuring by passengers that the buses lacked air conditioning. A female conductor I spoke to affirmed that the buses have air conditioning. She also furthered that there would be no conductor on the bus after three months of operation. She added that just after the three-month probation, the buses would be operated on a credit card basis. This means that even my grandmother, selling pepper at the market, has to have a credit card to be eligible to ride the ‘Waka Fine’ buses. The ‘Waka Fine’ buses are indeed Waka Fine due to their comfortability. It is also a Waka slow bus, which takes approximately 1 hour to ride from Bus Station to Calaba Town. However, this long ride is not unconnected to the generational traffic history within the Eastern Part of Freetown, especially during rush hours. Another unique aspect of the Waka Fine buses is that the front door is specifically used as an entrance, and the back door is uniquely used as an exit.
During my ride from Bus Station to Calaba Town, I heard young and old women chanting that the Waka Fine buses are indeed a blessing to them. They said they were used to paying over Le30 to get to their various destination, which had been reduced to just Le 10. Other fragmented expressions came from some old and young men who said they were used to walking from PZ to Up Gun because of the perennial challenges of transportation. Also, they said Kekeh and Taxies were used to collecting Le 10 just from PZ to Up Gun.
Among the views collected during my ride on the Waka Fine Bus was that passengers applauded the comfort of the Waka Fine Buses. They even made an unparalleled analogy between the bus confortability that of taxes, Poda Poda, and Kekeh.
The Courier has confirmed that the Le 10 fare is just for a single trip and not for Le 12 hours, as was fallaciously rumored.
Passengers without seats standing in the ‘Waka Fine’ Buses during rush hours.
The overloading is only at the pick hours or rush hours when transportation demands become astronomically high.
Unlike rush hours or pick time, the Courier would want to make this unremorseful confirmation that, indeed, the wait time for the Waka Fine buses could not exceed 5 minutes. As the sojourn continued from Calaba to Testaco, another set of passengers, with old men and women, boarded the bus but had no seat to sit on. As a traditionalist, I had to respect my tradition by giving up my seat for a very old woman. As she was sitting gently and comfortably, she said thank you, my son, in a very tuneful voice. What thrilled Courier was the inscription boldly written at Eastern Police that Sani Abacha Street is only accessible for Waka Fine Buses from 6 AM to 10 PM. It is also the same for other significant streets like Savage Street, Main Motor Road Congo Cross, and Wilkinson Road.
My holistic findings on the ‘Waka Fine’ Buses are that the buses have helped reduce the transportation challenges within the city and are less expensive, especially for those from the Far East or West. The buses are also comfortable, with a very smooth ride. However, the government should also order more buses to cater to those living around the Waterloo communities.
During rush hours, passengers queue at the Bus Station to board the ‘Waka Fine’ Buses to various destinations.
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