Esayas Mezgebe, a 46-year-old civil servant lost his wallet, which was full of money and other important cards such as ID, while traveling on a bus.
He had not chosen the bus for reasons related to safety and comfort before he changed his mind a few months ago. “I have no option until the light train kicks off its service soon,” he says.
For many, using the city bus, identified in red and yellow colors, is related to low-social status and old age: one merely has to take a look at people who wait at the bus stop. Those who wear in-style clothing or who might want to show off their social status hardly use the bus and use taxis instead. “I know it has nothing to do with one’s age or status, but I don’t feel right when using the bus unless there is no taxi around,” 30-year-old Ashenafi Feleke says.
The Anbessa City Bus started as a share company founded in 1945 and owned by Emperor Haile Selassie and members of the royal family, before it was nationalized in 1974. It came to be a public enterprise only after it was re-established in 1994.
The company commenced business in the mid 1940s with five military vehicles running only five routes. Now the company is equipped with 750 strong fleet of motor vehicles rolling under the company name of Anbessa.
Back in the days, passengers would take their seats and remain seated until the teller, carrying his coin bag, moved around to collect the fares. Those residents who have lived long enough to tell stories about the early years of restoration, after the fascist Italian invasion, would tell that urbanites had then only five vehicles at their disposal to make city tours or trips with their personal effects.
Now, the company has grown from its humble beginnings competing minute-by-minute with their blue and white rivals, the infamous taxis armored with rough-cut woyalas. However, it does not mean that buses drive round the city without the number of passengers they need per day.
The passengers hugely surpass the number of seats inside the bus and hundreds are seen hanging onto the metal poles. At this critical moment of expansion and restoration, the number of people flocking to the city appears to be phenomenal. The city is yet to offer the average facility that everyone needs in a city that is rapidly growing.
The transportation crisis that has long challenged the residents of Addis Ababa still prevails despite the promising projects that are set to offer services soon.
No one can be sure this problem will be solved after the completion of the construction being undertaken in the city. Because of this, some give up hope, thinking that no solution is ready to relieve them from the plight in transportation. As a result, some have started using the Anbessa Bus, which is locally nicknamed, “ye deha chama”, i.e. the poor man’s shoe.
Bedilu Assefa, general manager of Anbessa City Bus Enterprise, told The Reporter that the significant increase in the number of passengers has already forced the enterprise to deploy all parked buses in the garage.
“Since the month of October last year we have deployed an additional 65 buses to raise the number from 645 to 750,” he said. Moreover, the enterprise has already occupied the terminals previously reserved for the taxis. “We have some 33 additional bus stops which were previously used by mini-buses,” he added.
According to him, the major reason behind the large number of residents flocking to the bus service is the dispute and bad manners that they come across when using the mini-buses.
On the other hand, the Anbessa City Bus entails a code-of-conduct over its operation to safeguard the dignity of its passengers, Bedilu explains. “The dispute sometimes turns violent when there is tariff adjustment by the transport authority which the taxi drivers consider a ‘disadvantage,” he said. And this opens up an opportunity for the long-serving city bus. “We have to fill the gap and use this opportunity,” he adds.
Despite the growing number of people, who have become frequent bus users, the mini-bus drivers often downplay the argument of them being rebuffed in favor of the Anbessa Bus. “I don’t think people prefer to use the bus.
Taxis will always remain an important part of transportation,” Shekur Mohamed, a taxi driver, says. Indeed, he agrees with some of the reasons that push people away from taking taxis, but does not believe that it means mini-buses are running out of passengers. “It will never ever happen unless everyone drives his or her own car,” he reiterates.
Anbessa City Bus, with more than 119 routes across the city, seems to be reaping the benefits from the altercations that often arise between the mini-buses and their passengers. “We do not hesitate to use this opportunity, not only to make money, but also to change the misconception that the bus is for the poor or for those who are not ‘modern’,” Bedilu said.
He stresses the importance of a bus with regard to having better safety records. He further explains that even the developed world still count on the bus for its economic advantage and the less time it takes to get from one destination to another.
Although some fear that the fate of thousands of mini-buses will be decided soon, as the city is being transformed to light train and fast buses, which hardly leaves a route to taxi, the mini-buses chauffeurs hardly believe it spells doom for their business. “Of course some taxi owners are selling their taxis to change their business, but I don’t think the business will die in the presence of all those arrangements,” Shekur argues.
Yes, time will answer if the business for the blue-and-white mini-buses is endangered, but the trend that Anbessa Bus is gaining a profit for its increased routes and “special fare” tells something undeniable – people are going back to the old high-seats and suffocation jumbled inside a bus that has a limit for only 90 passengers.