Don't Assume

Most of the public transport in Arusha town are small vans that seat about 15-20 people and are called Kifodi or Daladala.

The Kifodi name came about because a fair number of them were Fords, and kiswahili says Fodi, and becuase of the noun class they became vifodi for plural.

Daladala came about because they used to charge the equivalent of a dollar at one time in Dar es salaam. So hence the name.

I imagine all over the world these type of transport are pretty much the same. There are many of them on our roads. They are privately owned and usually driven by men between 20-30 and hence they are aggressive.

both on the bicycle and in the car I tend to not like them. But they are getting better. A few weeks ago I had a kifodi driver wave and apologize as he cut me off on my bike. Now days on the bike they often wait for me to pass before pulling out back into the road.

Yesterday on the way home at the first intersection I maneuvered so as to not let a (pesky obnoxious) kifodi driver enter the road. Then at the next intersection a (nice) kifodi driver stopped and flashed his lights for me to turn right across his lane of traffic. So don't assume they are all obnoxious.