Watch this awesome video, filmed in the late 80’s .. and although it’s now 2012, its still the exact same … seriously … I think they still use the same buses! LOL.

click to watch: two white girls pon a minibus video

I’m not sure I can give you a better or funnier picture of what it’s like to travel by bus in Jamaica, but I’ll give you more of the details …. as you see in the video the buses in Jamaica are actually just big mini vans.  There’s the “driver”, who drives the bus, duh! and the “doctor” who is the guy who takes your money, opens the door for you, tells you which part of the bus to squish yourself into, and yells out the window as you drive along to see if anyone wants a ride.

There is no way to actually know when a bus will come by in Jamaica … they do come often, but there’s no real guarantee (I think the most we’ve waited is almost 30 mins for a bus).  They run from early in the morning, until just after midnight (I can’t actually tell you how early ha ha, the earliest I’ve ever made it on a bus was 9:30am … but from what I hear they start around 6am …?)

So how do you catch a bus in Jamaica?  If you’re in a city there are bus stops where the  buses wait and many doctors will try to pull you over to their bus.  We actually had a not so nice experience at a bus stop one day – there were several doctors all trying to get us on their buses … we were surrounded by them and a couple actually held onto us trying to physically put us in already very full buses  … but as soon as we told them to leave us alone (ok, so we didn’t say it quite so nicely and we kind of had to forcefully remove their hands..ha ha), they backed right off … guess they found out the two white girls were not as innocent or naive as they thought!    Now, if you’re not at an actual city bus stop, on the main roads there are bus stops (a covered bench), but you can pretty much catch the bus anywhere!  There are certain spots where the bus is guaranteed to stop, such as at a busy bridge or intersection .. but if you’re just walking down the road and want to catch a bus, just nod your head as the doctor drives by and yells at you … they’ll pull over no matter where they are, or how full they are!!  (or they will actually drive backwards down the road for you..lol which happened to us once)

Once you get a bus to pull over for you, the fun begins!  If you’re lucky, you’ll actually get on a bus that isn’t crazy full and be able to sit comfortably … but chances are, you’re about to get real friendly with a whole bunch of Jamaicans.  It’s a cozy ride, to say the least.  LOL.  Kate once read on the side of the bus that it said “maximum capacity, 12 people” … she counted … there were about 12 people already – but that was only counting the first three rows … there were still two more packed with about ten more people behind us!!  If you get on a bus at a station in a city, the bus will actually do laps around the block until the bus is completely full and not a single other person will fit.  And of course, you’ll be getting on and off the bus numerous times to maneuver letting people out at their stop from wherever they have been squished into.  Honestly, its not that bad taking the bus, we usually do it three or more times in a week … the windows are usually open for a nice breeze or the A/C is going … some of them even have TV’s where they play movies and music videos to entertain you!!

To get from Runaway Bay to Ocho Rios, which is about a half hour to forty minute bus ride (its only a twenty minute drive, but you stop so often for let on and off’s that it takes twice as long!).  It costs us 120 Jamaican dollars each … which equals about $1.40 Canadian … not a bad fare at all!  To get off the bus, you just have to yell at the doctor when you get close to your stop … people yell out various things, such as “bus stop”, “let off”, “bridge”, “lights”, “gaza”, “gully” or any location along the way where they want to get out.  The doctor will ask you for your fare before you get to your stop … how he remembers where everyone got on in order to charge them the right amount is beyond me (especially with everyone hopping on and off all the time!).

And of course, there is always the actually driving itself that adds excitment to the ride .. we’ll be writing more about Jamaican driving another time, but its definitely fast and aggressive!

I guess the other thing to mention is the funny looks and stares we get.  I get it … seeing two “whities” (as we are often referred to) take the bus around Jamaica isn’t really something you see everyday (unless you travel between Runaway Bay and Ocho Rios …. chances are pretty good you’re one day going to be on a bus with Kate and Kayla!!).  For the most part we just get stares and funny looks, but once in awhile we’ll get someone who is brave enough to say hello or make conversation (mostly males, who “would really like to get to know us …”). Once a guy even crossed the busy street and came over to us while we were stopped.  He asked us “Where are you going?  Heaven?” lol..oh the pick-up lines….Pleasant conversation is found as well, but when you make conversation on the bus, you have a conversation with everyone on the bus … for one, you’re so close together its almost impossible not to eavesdrop …. and secondly, they all want to find out what the heck we are doing on the bus!!  Now that our Patois is improving, we’ll usually catch if people are talking about us and don’t think we understand.  We also just get laughed at, or people make jokes at our expense … but its all in good fun so we just laugh along with everyone else and enjoy ride!