Ghanaian taste for vehicles since independence, Tuesday, March 6, 2012
FROM rickety, smoke-blowing Bedford trucks to luxurious 4X4s and saloons, Ghana’s automobile and road transport sectors have seen it all from years preceding independence in March 1957 till today.
Vehicles made their appearance in the Gold Coast at the turn of the 19th century, not so very long after they took to the road in Europe in the 1890's.
From some hundreds, the number of cars has increased over the years, with the country’s roads are now responsible for well over a one million cars, according to statistics from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority.
Lorries, especially the untiring good old Bedford trucks became common in the late 1930's. They were extensively used for transporting cocoa, salt and foodstuff to the railways even before properly tarred roads became common.
The diesel engines and steel frames had good reputations, were strong as tractors, and reliable. The owners, often wealthy traders, men and women, would contract carpenters to build the box, seats, roof (tarred to be waterproof) and canvas flaps for the sides and back to use when it rained.
Not everyone took to cars straight away. Although my ninety-something-year-old grandfather was quite content to travel by train, he was suspicious of the car when he first came across one somewhere at Keta in the 1930s. Hear him: “Those days at Keta, there was this Bremen missionary who drove a Crossley Bugatti, a windowless car with wheels that looked like today’s bicycle tyres.”
“As if to tease us to chase the car, he will stand right in front of us and when all eyes are on him, he will dash away, leaving trails of smoke and dust.”
“My chance to step into that car came when ‘Yevu Lorrivi,’ as we used to call him, spotted me on my way home from the farm. When the car stopped right in front of me, I took off without looking back.”
Years on, he did not only come to own a Renault 4 but took to driving as a career with the then GNTC, having a feel of quite a number of vehicles.
The fleet of cars that moved on Ghana’s roads, especially from the 1950s till now, is long and impressive. Do you remember the days of vintage cars such as Hennessey, Vauxhall, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Humber, Morris Minor, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Leyland and Austin, all from the United Kingdom?
The USA’s share of the automobile space were cast in the make of the vintage Ford cars like Dodge, Buick, Cadillac, Ford Mustang, Chrysler, Chevrolet and Pontiac.
What about the German line up of the Beetle or VW, the Opel Astra, Daimler Mercedes Benz, Opel Rekord and others? Other cars that were embedded in the fabric of the automobile industry included the Plymouth, Ultima, Packard and Nissan Datsun. The Datsun’s days of glory were in the late 60s and throughout the 70s and was used extensively as taxis.
Just like today, the luxury jalopies were the Ferrari, Saab, Lincoln, Maybach, Lamborghini, Mercedes Benz and BMWs.
Among some of the most celebrated cars to have trekked Ghanaian roads was the Peugeot 404. Not long after it entered the European Market in May 1960, it made its way to Ghana in the mid 60s. It was notoriously known as ‘one pound, one pound.’
Kwesi Atta Sakyi in an article published by Ghanaweb sums the prowess of the Peugeot 404: “It was a veritable racer as it chewed up the miles as the drivers were ace drivers. Many traffic police officers often gave up chasing offending drivers who often got away in their inimitable 404s.”
The police handicap was that they often used Land Rovers and small American Jeeps, which were no match for the Peugeot racers.
The Bedfords were durable, easy to maintain and they gave less trouble in terms of not having frequent breakdowns. They could withstand very much the heavy wear and tear caused by the pot-holed dirt tracks and the few stretches of macadamised passable highways.
Ghana’s automobile history is incomplete without the ubiquitous ‘trotro.’ According to oral history, the origins of the name ‘Tro-Tro’ is that Ga language word "tro," which means three pence, the pence being the penny coins used during the colonial era. In the colonial days, the mass transit vehicle charged passengers three pence per trip, and thus were referred to as "tro-tros," and the name has struck ever since.
In the 70s, Golf gained popularity, with its association with a former military ruler, General I.K Acheampong, who the rumour mill speculated baited beautiful women endowed with ‘heavy backsides’ with Golf, hence the catch phrase “fa wutu begyi Golf,’ to wit bring your backside in exchange for Golf.
One of the evolutions of the automobile industry in Ghana has also been the ‘Operation Right-hand Drive’ which was launched in the 1970s.
It helped motorists change over from left-hand drive to right-hand drive on August 4, 1974, without major hitches.There was so much publicity on the radio and in all meetings. The slogan in Twi was "Nifa, Nifa Enan." (Right, Right Fourth). No cars could be imported with steering wheels on the right side from 1972. The accident rate, according to records, went down close to zero and stayed there for six weeks.
Ghana, unlike other parts of the continent, including Nigeria and South Africa, did not have its own car manufacturing factories. But a few assembling plants operated in the country at one point or the other. The first car assembling plant was opened in Accra on February 2, 1969.
According to a Daily Graphic publication of February 3, 1969, the plant which was at the then Ring Road North Industrial Area was equipped to produce 600 Nissan cars, and 600 Nissan buses, pick-ups and trucks a year. The plant assembled only Nissan vehicles whose components were imported from Japan.
According to industry experts, two main reasons account for the absence of car manufacturing plants; one is the relatively small market size. Secondly, there is the problem with skilled labour force to man such plants.
Ghana’s auto industry has undergone a lot of dramatic change in terms of the delivery of cars.
Gone are the days when it used to be a seller’s market where customers had to order their vehicles three to eight months and also make a 25 per cent down payment and even finish before their car was delivered. The delivery could even take three to four months, depending on the manufacturer.
Today, the story is different; a buyer could have his car delivered latest in three days.
According to Mr Rockson Johnson of Hyundai Investment Ghana Ltd, a subsidiary of Stallion Motors, the efficient deliveries had been because “Africa is now being taken seriously because of the growing economies. The automobile market in Africa keeps expanding as middle class base increases.”
These days, Ghana also joins the rest of the world in launching new cars unlike in the past where the 2011 Honda Pilot, for instance, could only come to the Ghanaian market in 2012 or even 2013.
This, according to Mr Johnson, is because the industry now recognises the potentials of the African market which continue to expand as there are now funds available for people to buy cars.
“The cost of cars over the years has reduced because of engine size and competition in the automobile industry which has also improved designs and pricing.”
While auto companies over the years have increased, with it competition, the importation of new cars has also increased tremendously. A decade ago, only 3,000 new vehicles made their way to the country annually but last year, 16,000 new vehicles were added to the auto market.
The growth of the new car market, notwithstanding, the second hand car industry has also seen some tremendous growth. An estimated 60,000 cars are imported into the country annually.
As the number of vehicles increases, so has the number of accidents. Mr John agreed that the second hand car industry in the country cannot be scrapped but there was the need to put restrictions in place to ensure that only vehicles with standard safety features were allowed into the country.
Public transport
From a vibrant public transport from the independence, Ghana’s public transport sector was forced to bite dust with the encouragement of deregulation by the World Bank in the 1990s.
The days when the likes of the Ominibus Service Authority was so functional to the point of prediction disappeared with the deregulation exercise.
OSA used to operate city transit system, using Leyland and Albion buses. Later, they switched to Neoplan and Tata buses during the late 1970s. The OSA buses were said to be so reliable that one could easily predict which number will be at which bus stop at a particular time.
But it is also significant to know that the Metro Mass Transit whose operation started in 2002 has done tremendously well even though its efficiency in terms of time management cannot match that of OSA. The safety and comfort that comes with the OSA buses are missing on MMT buses as rush hours are used as excuses to pack passengers to the point of suffocation.
For intercity transport, the dying State Transport Company was a major asset but its role has been taken over by the likes of VIP, OA and others.
Even though the deregulation exercise put more cars on the roads, the cities have had to contend with worsened road congestion, a deteriorating urban environment and big problems with user safety and security.
The private operators work without any schedule, route licensing or service standards.
The licence gives them permission to operate anywhere, resulting in their concentration along the main high-density corridors. Apart from Bedford trucks being outlawed as passenger vehicles, not much has changed over the years.
According to a World Bank report of 2004, “this situation has particularly worsened the travel environment for the poor who live in outlying areas and depend mostly on public transport”.
The commercial buses or ‘tro tro’ can be a nightmare for even the toughest city hustler. Journeys frequently stop-start, seating is uncomfortable, the horns are constant and loud and the buses accelerate aggressively. But fares are cheap, even though they can increase drastically during petrol shortages or even on the whim of their drivers and conductor.
In these cars, some of which have outlived their roadworthy certificates, passengers are squashed inside and those without seats are packed into the aisle or hang from the doorway. Most buses, with the accelerator pedal at the mercy of alcohol-powered or madness-filled drivers, are not roadworthy.
The bodywork is worse as they are battered; tyres are as bald as the pate of a 90-year-old; plumes of thick, black smoke are emitted from exhaust pipes as the buses chug on with barely functioning brakes.
But entertainment is not hard to find on a ‘tro tro. A tro tro could be a stress reliever as it enables you to experience the sales gimmicks of vendors and wit of comedians and sometimes medical evangelists. Most of the time, before a vehicle reaches its destination, a few passengers exchange their money for goods. Commuters have, however, come to accept their hustle- infested tro tros.
"They may have their potential dangers, troubles and everything but my day won't be complete if I don't travel in one," Madam Patience Kumordzi, a trader said. "In the tro tro, I'm able to catch up with the latest gossips in town."
Even with the tremendous growth of the automotive industry in Ghana, inadequate roads in our rural areas means that the only means of transportation continue to be a fleet of ancient and battered minibuses and taxis most of whose manufacturers have folded up.
To reform the public sector transport, the Urban Transport Project (UTP), which is funded by the World Bank and other donors, is being implemented by some selected assemblies to bring sanity into Ghana’s public transportation. A component of the UTP is the Bus Rapid Transit. The BRT is an enhanced bus system that operates on bus lanes or other transit ways in order to combine the flexibility of buses with the efficiency of rail.
The BRT operates at faster speeds and provides greater service reliability and increased customer convenience. It also utilises a combination of advanced technologies, infrastructure and operational investments that provide significantly better services than traditional bus service.
Currently, the BRT infrastructure being constructed on the Graphic Road is 75 per cent complete and is expected to reduce the massive traffic in some parts of the country.
So you see, Ghana’s automobile and road transport sector has come a long way and it is the hope of many Ghanaians that in the years to come, it will get better.
Vehicles made their appearance in the Gold Coast at the turn of the 19th century, not so very long after they took to the road in Europe in the 1890's.
From some hundreds, the number of cars has increased over the years, with the country’s roads are now responsible for well over a one million cars, according to statistics from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority.
Lorries, especially the untiring good old Bedford trucks became common in the late 1930's. They were extensively used for transporting cocoa, salt and foodstuff to the railways even before properly tarred roads became common.
The diesel engines and steel frames had good reputations, were strong as tractors, and reliable. The owners, often wealthy traders, men and women, would contract carpenters to build the box, seats, roof (tarred to be waterproof) and canvas flaps for the sides and back to use when it rained.
Not everyone took to cars straight away. Although my ninety-something-year-old grandfather was quite content to travel by train, he was suspicious of the car when he first came across one somewhere at Keta in the 1930s. Hear him: “Those days at Keta, there was this Bremen missionary who drove a Crossley Bugatti, a windowless car with wheels that looked like today’s bicycle tyres.”
“As if to tease us to chase the car, he will stand right in front of us and when all eyes are on him, he will dash away, leaving trails of smoke and dust.”
“My chance to step into that car came when ‘Yevu Lorrivi,’ as we used to call him, spotted me on my way home from the farm. When the car stopped right in front of me, I took off without looking back.”
Years on, he did not only come to own a Renault 4 but took to driving as a career with the then GNTC, having a feel of quite a number of vehicles.
The fleet of cars that moved on Ghana’s roads, especially from the 1950s till now, is long and impressive. Do you remember the days of vintage cars such as Hennessey, Vauxhall, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Humber, Morris Minor, Aston Martin, Jaguar, Leyland and Austin, all from the United Kingdom?
The USA’s share of the automobile space were cast in the make of the vintage Ford cars like Dodge, Buick, Cadillac, Ford Mustang, Chrysler, Chevrolet and Pontiac.
What about the German line up of the Beetle or VW, the Opel Astra, Daimler Mercedes Benz, Opel Rekord and others? Other cars that were embedded in the fabric of the automobile industry included the Plymouth, Ultima, Packard and Nissan Datsun. The Datsun’s days of glory were in the late 60s and throughout the 70s and was used extensively as taxis.
Just like today, the luxury jalopies were the Ferrari, Saab, Lincoln, Maybach, Lamborghini, Mercedes Benz and BMWs.
Among some of the most celebrated cars to have trekked Ghanaian roads was the Peugeot 404. Not long after it entered the European Market in May 1960, it made its way to Ghana in the mid 60s. It was notoriously known as ‘one pound, one pound.’
Kwesi Atta Sakyi in an article published by Ghanaweb sums the prowess of the Peugeot 404: “It was a veritable racer as it chewed up the miles as the drivers were ace drivers. Many traffic police officers often gave up chasing offending drivers who often got away in their inimitable 404s.”
The police handicap was that they often used Land Rovers and small American Jeeps, which were no match for the Peugeot racers.
The Bedfords were durable, easy to maintain and they gave less trouble in terms of not having frequent breakdowns. They could withstand very much the heavy wear and tear caused by the pot-holed dirt tracks and the few stretches of macadamised passable highways.
Ghana’s automobile history is incomplete without the ubiquitous ‘trotro.’ According to oral history, the origins of the name ‘Tro-Tro’ is that Ga language word "tro," which means three pence, the pence being the penny coins used during the colonial era. In the colonial days, the mass transit vehicle charged passengers three pence per trip, and thus were referred to as "tro-tros," and the name has struck ever since.
In the 70s, Golf gained popularity, with its association with a former military ruler, General I.K Acheampong, who the rumour mill speculated baited beautiful women endowed with ‘heavy backsides’ with Golf, hence the catch phrase “fa wutu begyi Golf,’ to wit bring your backside in exchange for Golf.
One of the evolutions of the automobile industry in Ghana has also been the ‘Operation Right-hand Drive’ which was launched in the 1970s.
It helped motorists change over from left-hand drive to right-hand drive on August 4, 1974, without major hitches.There was so much publicity on the radio and in all meetings. The slogan in Twi was "Nifa, Nifa Enan." (Right, Right Fourth). No cars could be imported with steering wheels on the right side from 1972. The accident rate, according to records, went down close to zero and stayed there for six weeks.
Ghana, unlike other parts of the continent, including Nigeria and South Africa, did not have its own car manufacturing factories. But a few assembling plants operated in the country at one point or the other. The first car assembling plant was opened in Accra on February 2, 1969.
According to a Daily Graphic publication of February 3, 1969, the plant which was at the then Ring Road North Industrial Area was equipped to produce 600 Nissan cars, and 600 Nissan buses, pick-ups and trucks a year. The plant assembled only Nissan vehicles whose components were imported from Japan.
According to industry experts, two main reasons account for the absence of car manufacturing plants; one is the relatively small market size. Secondly, there is the problem with skilled labour force to man such plants.
Ghana’s auto industry has undergone a lot of dramatic change in terms of the delivery of cars.
Gone are the days when it used to be a seller’s market where customers had to order their vehicles three to eight months and also make a 25 per cent down payment and even finish before their car was delivered. The delivery could even take three to four months, depending on the manufacturer.
Today, the story is different; a buyer could have his car delivered latest in three days.
According to Mr Rockson Johnson of Hyundai Investment Ghana Ltd, a subsidiary of Stallion Motors, the efficient deliveries had been because “Africa is now being taken seriously because of the growing economies. The automobile market in Africa keeps expanding as middle class base increases.”
These days, Ghana also joins the rest of the world in launching new cars unlike in the past where the 2011 Honda Pilot, for instance, could only come to the Ghanaian market in 2012 or even 2013.
This, according to Mr Johnson, is because the industry now recognises the potentials of the African market which continue to expand as there are now funds available for people to buy cars.
“The cost of cars over the years has reduced because of engine size and competition in the automobile industry which has also improved designs and pricing.”
While auto companies over the years have increased, with it competition, the importation of new cars has also increased tremendously. A decade ago, only 3,000 new vehicles made their way to the country annually but last year, 16,000 new vehicles were added to the auto market.
The growth of the new car market, notwithstanding, the second hand car industry has also seen some tremendous growth. An estimated 60,000 cars are imported into the country annually.
As the number of vehicles increases, so has the number of accidents. Mr John agreed that the second hand car industry in the country cannot be scrapped but there was the need to put restrictions in place to ensure that only vehicles with standard safety features were allowed into the country.
Public transport
From a vibrant public transport from the independence, Ghana’s public transport sector was forced to bite dust with the encouragement of deregulation by the World Bank in the 1990s.
The days when the likes of the Ominibus Service Authority was so functional to the point of prediction disappeared with the deregulation exercise.
OSA used to operate city transit system, using Leyland and Albion buses. Later, they switched to Neoplan and Tata buses during the late 1970s. The OSA buses were said to be so reliable that one could easily predict which number will be at which bus stop at a particular time.
But it is also significant to know that the Metro Mass Transit whose operation started in 2002 has done tremendously well even though its efficiency in terms of time management cannot match that of OSA. The safety and comfort that comes with the OSA buses are missing on MMT buses as rush hours are used as excuses to pack passengers to the point of suffocation.
For intercity transport, the dying State Transport Company was a major asset but its role has been taken over by the likes of VIP, OA and others.
Even though the deregulation exercise put more cars on the roads, the cities have had to contend with worsened road congestion, a deteriorating urban environment and big problems with user safety and security.
The private operators work without any schedule, route licensing or service standards.
The licence gives them permission to operate anywhere, resulting in their concentration along the main high-density corridors. Apart from Bedford trucks being outlawed as passenger vehicles, not much has changed over the years.
According to a World Bank report of 2004, “this situation has particularly worsened the travel environment for the poor who live in outlying areas and depend mostly on public transport”.
The commercial buses or ‘tro tro’ can be a nightmare for even the toughest city hustler. Journeys frequently stop-start, seating is uncomfortable, the horns are constant and loud and the buses accelerate aggressively. But fares are cheap, even though they can increase drastically during petrol shortages or even on the whim of their drivers and conductor.
In these cars, some of which have outlived their roadworthy certificates, passengers are squashed inside and those without seats are packed into the aisle or hang from the doorway. Most buses, with the accelerator pedal at the mercy of alcohol-powered or madness-filled drivers, are not roadworthy.
The bodywork is worse as they are battered; tyres are as bald as the pate of a 90-year-old; plumes of thick, black smoke are emitted from exhaust pipes as the buses chug on with barely functioning brakes.
But entertainment is not hard to find on a ‘tro tro. A tro tro could be a stress reliever as it enables you to experience the sales gimmicks of vendors and wit of comedians and sometimes medical evangelists. Most of the time, before a vehicle reaches its destination, a few passengers exchange their money for goods. Commuters have, however, come to accept their hustle- infested tro tros.
"They may have their potential dangers, troubles and everything but my day won't be complete if I don't travel in one," Madam Patience Kumordzi, a trader said. "In the tro tro, I'm able to catch up with the latest gossips in town."
Even with the tremendous growth of the automotive industry in Ghana, inadequate roads in our rural areas means that the only means of transportation continue to be a fleet of ancient and battered minibuses and taxis most of whose manufacturers have folded up.
To reform the public sector transport, the Urban Transport Project (UTP), which is funded by the World Bank and other donors, is being implemented by some selected assemblies to bring sanity into Ghana’s public transportation. A component of the UTP is the Bus Rapid Transit. The BRT is an enhanced bus system that operates on bus lanes or other transit ways in order to combine the flexibility of buses with the efficiency of rail.
The BRT operates at faster speeds and provides greater service reliability and increased customer convenience. It also utilises a combination of advanced technologies, infrastructure and operational investments that provide significantly better services than traditional bus service.
Currently, the BRT infrastructure being constructed on the Graphic Road is 75 per cent complete and is expected to reduce the massive traffic in some parts of the country.
So you see, Ghana’s automobile and road transport sector has come a long way and it is the hope of many Ghanaians that in the years to come, it will get better.
Thanks a lot for sharing this amazing knowledge with us.
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