9 Types of Personalities You’ll Meet in Lagos Public Vehicles

Lagos, the commercial centre of the nation, is filled with people with different personalities and from all walks of life. Do you ply Lagos roads using public vehicles? How do you withstand the characters of people you board vehicles with? It is only by knowing their personalities and learning to withstand whatever happens on the road. This article talks about the types of personalities you’ll meet in Lagos public vehicles.

Lagos State has a total population of about twenty-one million (21,000,000). This makes it the most populous state in Nigeria. Also, there are over 5 million and 200,000 commercial vehicles in Lagos.

You’ll find luxury cars as well as public vehicles (such as the yellow buses popularly called ‘danfo’ and the white bus popularly called ‘tata’). Lagos is a fun place to live in and can also be stressful when you do not own your own car. Several millions of people require these public vehicles, so as you. How do you then withstand several personalities you’ll be stuck with when in the Lagos traffic? Below are 9 types of personalities you’ll meet in Lagos public vehicles.

(1)

The sleepers

Are you informed that in a developing world like our nation, over 150 million adults suffer from sleep-related problems? This explains why you’ll find the ‘sleepers’ in the most stressful city in Nigeria. In Lagos commercial buses, you’ll find passengers that will sleep awkwardly, in a way that will cause distress for you.

You’ll find a man resting his head on your shoulder or a woman hitting her head intermittently on your body. Worse still, you might sit beside someone snoring. You can request politely that they sleep properly or you can choose to withstand this till you arrive at your bus stop!

(2)

The plus-sized ones

They are extra in size and this will cause great discomfort when you sit beside them. For a seat originally designed for four passengers per row, this type of person will contain an extra space due to their plus size.

When you struggle to manage the available space which can hardly contain you, you’ll end up spending your time in the bus in discomfort. No matter the ‘abeg shift small’ request you give, the seat will still not be conducive.

You can drop and wait for another bus or remain patient and keep yourself busy by engaging in a task (such as reading a book or watching a movie). This will reduce the discomfort you will feel while being squeezed in the row.

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(3)

The prayer warriors

This set of personality has taken commercial buses to be their mini-churches. They would pray and may even distribute religious pamphlets to the other passengers. They might also invite other passengers to their church programmes and utilize the time on the road to preach the word of the gospel and encourage them to become born-again Christians and give their lives to Christ.

(4)

The foodie

These sets of passengers are always after food. Most times, they always look obese. They are constantly searching the roads of Lagos frantically for snacks to buy. Things like bottles of soda drinks, boiled eggs, groundnut, akara, popcorn, biscuit, puff puff, plantain chips, cake, potato chips, and so on will always be found on them.

(5)

The pretenders

Be cautious of any passenger that struggles to enter into the bus but alights after a few minutes with the excuse of forgetting something. Make sure that you check your belongings when this occurs because the person might be a potential thief.

Most times, these passengers are pretenders. They have another mission for boarding the bus with the pretense of being a passenger. They want to distract you and use the opportunity to steal from you and other passengers!

 

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(6)

The arranged couples

Commonly, you will find an infuriated conductor that pairs up a group of commuters due to the issue of change. This occurs in a situation whereby the passengers have paid a higher denomination of naira note and the conductor is having the challenge of settling them with their change. 

For example, if two passengers are meant to collect their change of 100 naira each, the conductor will give them 200 naira, instructing that they share it between themselves.

(7)

An extra passenger

In Lagos commercial buses, you’ll find passengers who wouldn’t sit alone on a single seat. Rather, they will have a companion or friend who will share the seat with them by sitting on their thighs. This is commonly known as ‘lapping’ in Nigeria. An extra passenger causes discomfort just like the plus-sized.

(8)

The big money spenders

These sets of passengers would pay with high denominated naira notes despite the conductor’s initial warning of ‘Ewole pelu change oo!’ They will cause conflicts on the bus because of paying 1000 naira for a 50-naira fee and expecting a change of 950 naira from the conductor.

(9)

The perfect lady/gentleman

In Lagos commercial buses, you’ll find the perfect lady/gentlemen that mind their businesses and respect themselves. They are respectful and well mannered. They do not make noise either do they engage in unnecessary banter with the conductor.

Using commercial vehicles to ply the roads in Lagos requires dealing with awkward passengers and frustrated conductors. The easy way to get over this is by knowing the personalities of people you’ll find in these buses and learning how to deal with them.

What other personalities did we miss out? Let us know in the comment section!