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Critiques [Translate]

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• Zandell (233)
• [2006-11-27 15:31]

Nice picture.. Show us the real life of a Matatu's Driver..
It's a very hard job..
It's a share taxi, a mode of transport that falls between private transport and conventional bus transport, with a fixed route, but the convenience of stopping anywhere to pick or drop passengers, etc.

Matatu
The origin of the word is attributed to different sources. One is that it is derived from the Swahili word tatu, meaning three. When matatus made their first appearance in the late 1960s, the standard fare for a trip was thirty cents (three 10 cents coins) shillings. Matatu are sometimes known as 'mathrees' and more recently, as 'mats' in Sheng, Kenya's creolised swahili language.

Matatu vehicles are, characteristically, painted colourfully. Pictures and caricatures of anything in current vogue were common. If, for example, Beyonce's single was at Number One, you might easily find a matatu named after her or her song, with her picture prominent on both the inside and outside of the matatu. The matatus were also equiped with car audio systems with woofers and sub-woofers with the wattage of up to 1500 watts. The loud music was a means of advertising the matatu. The matatu with the loudest and most up to date hip-hop or reggae music appealed to a larger crowd and hence made higher profits since there was no time it lacked passangers.

The greed for large profits by matatu operators caused the streets to be gradually transformed into race track with the matatus carrying a particular route racing to make the most round trips. This and other reasons caused the governments to impliment laws regulating the matatu industry.

There was also what could be described as a 'matatu culture'. The business was cut-throat and after quick profits. All kinds of anti-social practices were directly linked to the matatu business.


Thank you for sharing

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• jdwyer264 (1077)
• [2006-11-28 4:08]

Nice shot Hadas
A very good image, an interesting subject to say the least. I really like the openness of the possible interpretations it is possible to take from this. For me I think either of a a Hollywood comedy film where an accident occurs and before long the whole thing goes horribly wrong. OR, the groups of people in the middle of the vehicles are discussing how they can move their vehicle to clear the mess up, like a real life Rubix cube puzzle.
Great.
Have a good day.
*Note could say more.

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• kluman (0)
• [2007-02-04 11:49]

Ahhh, memories. This captures the reality of the Old Taxi park in Kampala. It is old in that there is a new one, but both are actively being used. There are sections of the park where the matatus that are headed East park. Within that section, there are smaller sections going to individual eastern towns. To catch a ride, you decend into the chaos and just ask someone where the matatu to Mbale is. They point and you walk a ways and ask again. Finally, when you get close, someone will grab your arm and take you to the Mbale matatu that is leaving next. You get in and wait for it to fill.

Once the bus is full, it begins the long and amazing effort to extricate itself from the mass of other parked busses! That's just the start of your African journey!