Citi Hoppa

A crowd of commuters get ready to board a Citi Hoppa as it slows down in downtown Nairobi

Getting on the Citi Hoppa away from downtown in the middle of the day was easy. Getting on the Citi Hoppa in downtown headed toward the residential areas in the middle of rush hour is a different story. Here is what it looks like. If someone is getting off, the bus pulls up to the bus stop and the passengers quickly pile out. The ones getting on crowd around the door and start piling on as soon as the others are off. If you have a friend with you, they can help by pushing hard on your back so that you are able to make it to the front. If you are sneaky, you’ll approach the door from the side instead of getting behind the mass of people, many of which won’t make it onto this bus.

If there is no one getting off the bus then its a bit different. The bus merely slows down while the crowd begins jogging along side the bus. If you are in front you can grab the handles on the side of the bus to help pick up speed. When situated you put a foot on the step and pull your self in. The rest of the crowd follows suit until the conductor taps you on the head and says there is no more room. You must push to the front of the crowd and jump on no matter if you are a lady in heels, an elderly person, or someone carrying a large bundle of stuff. Hesitate for a moment and you’ll get left behind!

After watching my fully loaded bus go by three or four times without even slowing down, I realized that there must a bigger bus stop upstream from where I was standing. I followed the trail of oncoming Citi Hoppa’s to the source to find the mother lode. Here you can find the empty busses moving along the bus stop at a very slow pace. The conductor sits in the side window with a sign indicating the route. Once the bus is loaded and all the seats are full, the bus belches a bit of gray smoke, pulls out and joins the sea of traffic headed out of town.

The mother lode of busses at a crowded bus stop in downtown Nairobi