Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TAXI-BROUSSE GLOSSARY
The term taxi-brousse (literally 'bush taxi'
)
is used generically in Madagascar
to refer to any vehicle providing public transport. When you buy your taxi-
brousse ticket, therefore, you could be about to climb into anything from a
pickup truck to a rumbling juggernaut with entire suites of furniture tied to its
roof.
The most common guise of the taxi-brousse is the 14-seater Japanese minibus
(Toyota and Mazda especially). On long and popular routes (eg
Tana-Morondava or Tana-Tuléar), you'll also find Mercedes 18-seater
minibuses, which are the most spacious and comfortable of the lot (comparable
to a low-cost European airline).
For shorter journeys (eg Diego Suarez to Joffreville) and in rural areas, an-
cient Peugeot 504s or 505s are the go. They are smaller and therefore fill quick-
er and also tend to fill more than their theoretical number of seats (three at the
front and four or five at the back).
A
bâché
is a small, converted pick-up, which usually has some sort of cover-
ing over the back and benches down each side.
Bâchés
are used on shorter, rural
routes and are hideously uncomfortable.
The
camion-brousse
is a huge 4WD army-style truck, fitted with a bench or
seats down each side, although the majority of passengers wind up sitting on the
floor, on top of whatever supplies the truck is carrying. They are used for partic-
ularly long or rough journeys.
TAXI-BROUSSE
The good news is that taxis-brousses are cheap and go everywhere. The bad news is that
they are slow, uncomfortable, erratic and sometimes unsafe.
Despite the general appearance of anarchy, the taxi-brousse system is actually relatively
well-organised. Drivers and vehicles belong to transport companies called Coopératives
(cooperatives). Coopératives generally have a booth or an agent at the taxi-brousse station
(called
gare routière
or
parcage
), where you can book your ticket.
Although the going can be slow,taxis-brousses stop regularly fortoilet stops, leg stretch-
ing and meals (at
hotelys
along the road).
SEATS & LUGGAGE
»Most taxis-brousses, notably the Japanese minibuses used for long journeys, stick to the
number of seats in the vehicle. This is less true of
bâchés
and
camions-brousses
.
»The two front seats beside the driver are usually the most spacious and most sought after.
They are, however, the most dangerous in case of an accident since there are no seatbelts.
