My Ordeal On A VIP Bus

I had my worst travelling experience on Monday 17th of January 2011, when I boarded an early morning VIP bus from Accra to Kumasi. I had to get to Kumasi very early so after having just about three hours of sleep, I woke up and got ready to head to the VIP station to board a bus to Kumasi. I felt very tired and had to drag myself out of bed but I took solace in the fact that I could sleep on board the VIP bus I intended to board. I got to the station a little after 4 am and as VIP is known and well loved for, in less than 30 minutes the bus had set off. I said a little prayer, relaxed into my seat and prepared to sleep for most part of the journey. Some time into the journey, I realized I was feeling quite cold. I have been battling with, and treating, a stubborn cough for some time now and I was not feeling particularly well so I decided the problem must be me and so I got a long sleeved shirt out of my travelling bag and put it on. I realized I was still feeling the cold through my trousers so I picked up my laptop bag and lay it flat over my laps and proceeded to further tuck my hands into my trousers in an attempt to get comfortable but to no avail. It was around this time that I decided to investigate why I seemed so uncomfortable while everyone else looked relatively fine. I realized the vent and speaker system directly above me was faulty and so chilled air was blowing directly on me through the perforations made for the speaker though both vents were closed. When we got to Linda Dor and the bus stopped for 10 minutes so its passengers could refresh themselves, I approached the driver who had gone to stand beside the vehicle and courteously requested that he reduced the intensity of the air conditioner. He curtly remarked that it was already at the lowest level so he could not help me and started to walk off so as to cut off the conversation and get rid of me. I followed him and tried to impress on him that mine was a peculiar case as there was a problem with the ventilation system just above me and that the chilled air was blowing directly on me. He kept walking away and said that was how it was for everyone else. I persisted in following him and asked then that he could turn off the air conditioning for some time. At this he turned towards me and asked “Turn it off” in a tone which suggested I was out of my mind for making such an unheard of request and then he walked away yet again not wanting to even reason with me. I felt peeved but proceeded to board the bus and check whether what he said about the vents problem being the same for everyone else was indeed the case and as I suspected though a limited amount of air passed through the perforations of the speakers for other seats, it was not like mine where all the chilled air in the bus seemed to be passing. The conductor came around at this time and I requested that he check the vent above me and that there was a problem. He also curtly replied “Massa eye saa,” meaning that was how it was so I should bear with it and he walked away. Some sympathetic passengers around me chipped in by asking them to turn off the air conditioner for some thirty minutes but he walked off to take his seat at the front of the bus totally ignoring us. I was livid at this moment asking if I had asthma this was the treatment I had to endure as a norm in a VIP bus. The most annoying part of the whole saga was the fact that both the driver and the conductor were wearing winter jackets and not just ordinary sweaters. Should they not be in ordinary clothing so that they would be the first to make sure the bus was appropriately cooled and not over cooled? One passenger turned to me and said I should avoid that particulars seat the next time I boarded the same bus after which everyone else supporting my request for turning off the air conditioner kept quiet. I realized then that some other passengers were in relatively heavy clothing probably because they had had such experiences on a bus before. I watched in annoyance as all around me, everyone had closed their vents thus concentrating the flow of air directly on me. I thought of creating a scene, or perhaps walking up and down the bus to avoid sitting in that particular seat. I took out my ticket to see if there was any number I could call and lodge a complaint. The only information that stared back at me was the seat number: 18, the car number: GE 2398-10 and the price of the ticket: 20 Cedis. I remembered at that time other occasions where workers of VIP had been blatantly rude to passengers. I tried to recollect if written on the bus were any numbers one could call in case of reckless driving or misconduct of the driver and conductor but all that came to mind was the embossment : ‘Financed by CAL bank.’ As I write this article now, I am coughing more frequently and vehemently, when just yesterday I had noticed a significant improvement in my condition from my latest treatment with antibiotics and I know without a shadow of a doubt that VIP is to blame for setting my treatment back if not totally derailing it. I wish I could sue but this is Ghana – I had better not waste my time. It irks me so much that I paid 20cedis for such a shabby bus service. My little advice to CAL bank and the management of VIP: Protect your investment because some of us are already looking for an alternative bus service that fills up almost as quickly. Kindly train your drivers, conductors and workers in being hospitable to us because we the passengers are the reason they have the jobs they have.