Morning Commute

Now that I have a car (a soccer-mom Fiat Station Wagon), I am going to miss my morning commute. Usually, I will walk down my road to the bottom of the hill where is intersects with the main road slicing through the Ezulwini Valley. I position myself between the puddles to avoid getting soaked in murky water and wait for a Kombie. The Kombies are easy to spot from a distance as they are incredibly slow and are usually belching thick black smoke.

I never have to wait long, and, as Mbabane is a major destination, usually the first or second Kombie that stops is – as they say – going my way. It cost me just under 60 cents to get into Mbabane and after struggling up the hill on the main highway, we descend into the city, circle the bus station and enter on the far side.

The bus station is a feat that defies physics. The long, lumbering Kombies weave with surprising agility through each other. People snake through the honking giants, unhurried. I try to imagine an aerial view of the station, in fast-forward. Like an alien Tetris game or a child shuffling cards rudimentarily for “Go Fish.”

The public transport system n Swaziland – and many other African nations – is quite ingenious. A true student of the free market, the Kombie-system is holey privately owned, moderately regulated, for Keynes’ sake, by the government. The Kombie-system works of the simple supply and demand model: Kombies choose their route, obviously going to where they make the most money and thus where most people want to go. It behooves the driver to be efficient, as the more passengers the Kombie delivers, the more money they make.

However, the system is not totally flawless. The US Embassy, in the “Welcome Kit” I received, rates the “Safety of Public Transportation” as “Poor.” Under a section titled “Post Specific Concerns,” the Embassy states:

The use of public transportation by Americans is not recommended. Mini-bus taxies [Kombies]…should be considered unsafe. Many of these vehicles fail to meet minimal safety standards and drivers frequently overload the vehicles and travel at excessive speeds. Fatal accidents involving these conveyances are very common.