Mohammedia News
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A Bus Ride
How comfortable the 905 bus of the city of Mohammedia really is? Part[B]
The bus tickets came out of a small machine similar to the one in the Costco food area. The driver would get them first and hand them out after cashing in the money. The ticket's paper was not high-quality, and it folded easily. The printing was in black ink only, which was something unusual to see in Morocco. The ticket size was 7.3 cm in width and 7.9 cm in length.
The two noticeable sections of a bus printed ticket were the top section that was always blank and measured 3.5 cm out of 7.3, and the bottom section that had all the important details, such as the price, the tax, the name of the bus company, the date and time, and some other codes and numbers. At the bottom, a thank-you message was printed in bold Arabic letters, and it said:
"We thank you for your trust, and we wish you a happy trip."
As I got my ticket, I tried to move farther to empty the front door space, but it was not easy. I had to push through several people who were holding the bus metal bars and standing in sharp attention watching out for their final destination bus stop.
In the end, I managed to reach the middle of the bus, where I could at least breathe fresh air when the door was open. Though exiting the bus can only be from the rear door, not many had moved from the front door.
The 905 bus did not rattle as it passed over the numerous road bumps that slow all cars, which was comforting to many passengers, particularly the elderly. Despite lacking a bus itinerary map, the 905 bus is equipped with an automated voice announcement system that occasionally informs upcoming bus stops and route names. However, when it plays, announcements are not in English, which makes it useless for bus passengers who are not local. It is also equipped with several monitoring cameras and Wi-Fi that sometimes works and sometimes does not, but when it does work, the Internet connection is fast and requires no password, ad watching, or extra clicks to access it.
It's difficult to get off the 905 bus, particularly when it's packed. Bus-stop-requested buttons abound, but none of them have ever functioned. However, a passenger has to complete one of the three actions in order to get off the bus. He can either ask someone standing close to the back door to knock on the bus door for him, or he can knock on the door himself, being careful not to break any hand bones, or he can shout at the bus driver in advance to beg for a stop. This peculiar mechanism of calling for a bus stop isn't always effective. The passenger who requested the halt will therefore yell and knock on the back door once more if it doesn't work, which will come with mounting anger and frustration.
The 905 bus line needs more buses for sure. I had to take it close to the train station, where there was already a queue of people waiting for the bus to arrive before me. The number of people in the line was increasing quickly by the minute, and it tripled the capacity of a normal bus load. It was 8:09 p.m., and after a lengthy wait, the bus finally arrived, and everyone started clambering into it out of concern that it was the last bus. There was no bus staffer or sign alerting people to the 905 bus's final service of the day, which is an important detail the bus company should provide.
The bus was full, then crowded, then overcrowded with so many passengers that nobody could move or breathe well. Despite the fact that the bus was already packed, more passengers vainly wanted to board it. It was no longer a comfortable journey; rather, it was a necessity for many passengers to go home. That is it. The bus driver hardily closed the doors before taking the road, and when he arrived at the next stop in about five minutes, many people were waiting—God knows for how long—but the bus driver neither stopped for them nor for upcoming stops unless someone wanted to get off.
Hopefully more buses will be allocated to run this bus line soon, and hopefully the level of comfort will improve a little more as well.
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