タンザニアのバス、ダラダラ Buses in Tanzania, called Dala-dala

タンザニアにおいて徒歩を除いてもっとも一般的な交通手段、それはダラダラだろう。
ダラダラとは乗合バスのこと。
少し遠くに行こうとするときには必ずダラダラで行く。もちろんこの前紹介したバジャジも時々使うが、
バジャジにはメーターなんていうものはなく、ずべて交渉制であり結構高い。
それに比べてダラダラは料金が一律で２５０シリング（日本円で約１５円）。とても安い。

今日もダラダラに乗った。
入口で迎えるのは自動扉のサイン。

運転手の名前は山本　正さん。

降りたいときはこのボタンを押せばいい。

なんてことはあるわけない。ドアも自動では開かないし、ボタンも押しても何も反応しないし、運転手は
明らかに山本なんていう姓は持たないアフリカ系の方だ。
そう、ここはタンザニア。
日本のバスで使い古されたものが遠く海を渡ってここで使われているのだ。
それもかなり高い頻度で日本のバスを見る。都市に走っているダラダラの８割以上くらいいくのじゃないだろうか。
日本で使われたバスだとわかるのは日本語がバスに堂々と書かれたままだから。
ひまわり保育園・福島旅館、などなど。。。どの日本のバスもかなり古く、今や日本では見ることもできないような
もの。

東南アジアで日本の中古のバスが使用されているのはよく見たが、アフリカでもそうだとは思わなかった。
というのも、タンザニアから東京の距離は１１，７７７KM。船便でも２０kgの荷物を送ったら１万円くらいする。
バスなんて１台少なくとも１０トンくらいするだろう。

一体どういう経緯でどういう経路をたどってこれらのバスはタンザニアに来ているのだろうか。
とても謎深い。ヨーロッパから持ってきたほうがよっぽど近くて安いだろうに。

しかし１つ明らかなのは、自国では自動車を作り出せないということはもちろん、新型バスは買えない経済状況である
ということだ。

In Tanzania, the most common transportation should be Dala-dala except for on foot.
Dala-dala is a kind of a bus here.

You definitely take a dala-dala when you travel where you cannot go on foot.
Of course you would sometimes catch a bajaji which I introduced the other day and which is a 3 wheeler
taxi , but a bajaji in Tanzania has no meter and so you have to bargain for your transportation fee with
a driver every time. Besides, the fee is comparatively high.

On the other hand, it uniformly costs you only 250 Tsh, which means about $0.2, to take a dala-dala.
Very cheap.

I took a dala-dala today as well with those who are taking the training together with me.
First of all, a notice which said "automatic door" in Japanese welcomed us.
(It is represented in the first picture above.)

The name of the driver was Tadashi Yamada, whose name must be a Japanese one.
(It's represented in the second piture above.)

When you wanted to get down the bus, you could inform the driver of it by pushing the button
which is shown in the third picture above.

There's no way that those things were true.
The door didn't open automatically, the butten was not working or the drive shouldn't have
the name "Tadashi Yamada" because he clearly looked like an African person.
Remember, it's Tanzania, Africa here.

One of the buses which were used in Japan traveld across the Pacific and the Indian Ocean
and now it's used as a dala-dala here.

I can see not only one Japanese bus but also so many Japanese ones very often.
I guess that Japanese used buses consist of over 80 % of all buses which runs in Dar es Salaam.
You can identify a bus as a Japanese used bus because it has the clear Japanese somewhere on itself.
All the buses are so old that they could not be used in Japan anymore.

Although I saw many Japanese old buses running in south east Asia, I didn't expect I would see that
scene again in Africa.
The reason is that Tanzania is 11,777km away from Tokyo, Japan and for example, even if you send 20 kg of
a percel by sea mail, it costs about $120.
A bus should be at least 10 tons in weight.

I wonder why and how those Japanese used bus came here.
It's very mysterious.
I really think it's better to bring buses from European countries since it's mmuch nearer and it
should cost much cheaper.

But one thing is clear. It's that Tanzania can't produce motor vehicles on its own and besides they can't afford
to buy new buses due to low economic conditions.