Public transport

Ever since I worked in the 'Transport' team of my previous company I have developed an interest in it. So here is a post about public transport in Malekula. There is not much to write; the pictures tend to speak for themselves.

There are no buses, trains or any other kind of luxury public transport in Malekula. The condition of the roads and the fact that many rivers need to be crossed with no bridges available, require that all transport is 4-wheel driven. An ordinary car would probably get you as far as the first corner.

Public transport is privately run; people can start a transport business by buying a pick-up truck and a business licence and then start driving. Most cover one certain route only, from their village to Lakatoro in the morning and back again in the afternoon. If their village is close-by they may do this two times per day, but that is it. On Sundays no trucks run, on Saturdays a few, but only in the morning. This unfortunate, because it makes it really hard to go on an outing or go sight-seeing in the weekends.

Eventhough the trucks are not very comfortable, they are very sociable. Sitting or standing close together offers an ideal opportunity for a chat (Yu go wea?) and a flat tire with the driver forgetting to bring the right jack, offers a nice opportunity for passenger participation (with some passengers participating more than others...)

Lucky for us, Malekula also has several airports. Two of them have grass landing strips, but the one closest to Lakatoro has a tarmac one. It also used to have a real airterminal, but since some of the owners of the land on which it is built got into a fight with the province over payment for the use of the land, they set fire to it. This is quite a normal, although obviously illegal, practice. Since then we make do with this cosy outfit:

You board the plane some ten steps away from this terminal. That is, if you don't get bumped, which happens a lot. One day I even got bumped because they were taking cargo instead! What a blow to both ego and travel plans. But what can you do? Fortunately twenty steps in another direction will take you to the very scenic out-door departure lounge where the travel weary development yup can catch up on some email...