A Bus to Casablanca

There was a 5:30 a.m. taxi ride to the bus which was parked outside of the  bus driver's house.  As his first customers, the family and I had our pick of seats and sat right up front.  It turns out the driver is a friend of the brother-in-law of a daughter-in-law of the family.  Isn't it always not what you know, but who you know?

After 30 minutes and 2 more customers, we left.  For the downtown bus terminal.  Another 45 minutes passed as we waited for the bus to fill.  And those prime front seats we had?  We were told apologetically to move back 4 rows.  The impenetrable Arabic explanation left the reason why a mystery to me.  In any case, the bus to Casablanca finally got underway.

In the Morrocan Arabic dialect, there are at least a couple of words for bus.  The please-get-me-to-work-on-time bus is called a toe-bis (not making this up).  The city-to-city variety is called a car (still not making this up).  I guess it's the same in America, where the lowly form of  bus transportation tries to elevate itself by use of the word "coach".

If you travel by style in a car, make sure you take a look to see if there are windows all around the back of it.  Know what that means?  No bathroom. Very common. On the 3 hour trip to Casablanca, it's a good time to heed mom's advice, "You should of gone before you went".

More on Busses

When you want to get on a bus in Marrakech, you can use a couple of techniques that are socially acceptable and may get you on a crowded bus and possibly a seat. I have seen or used them  myself numerous times.

People often crowd the doors instead of lining up and boarding single file. For this situation, you need a defensive move.  As soon as you are close enough, feel free to use what I call the "door block techique"  where you reach past  as many people as you can who are boarding the bus ahead of you. With an arm now extended to either or both doors, you can block people from getting ahead of you from the sides (this is my favorite).

Sometimes the bus is so crowded that people are standing on the front steps.  Don't despair of getting to your destination.  You can reach on and pay the driver at the front of the bus and then climb aboard through the back door.  Of course, the back is probably equally crowded, so feel free to Twister your way on board.

Once your on board, if you're a woman of a certain age, a man of advanced age, enormously pregnant, holding a small child, or have an obvious physical disability, then you are entitled to go on the offense.  You can ask a someone to relinquish their seat to you.  Most people will.

Marrakech City Bus Etiquette

If you are going to venture forth on a city bus in Marrakech, you have to be prepared.   I was surprised the first time I paid 3.50 dirhams, got a receipt and went through a turnstile inside the bus. The reason for this bit of formality is that inspectors randomly board busses and check every passenger receipt.  (They do occasionally catch people who have sneaked aboard through a backdoor, window, or the push of the crowd.)

Don't have a seat? You can sit on the steps, on the side, or even in the aisle.  You can lean on the doors.  You can put your arm out of the window.

If you get a seat and an older person asks you for it,  you are generally expected to give it to him or her.

Just so you know--the city busses, as opposed to tour or some of intercity busses, are not air-conditioned in summer or heated in winter.