Tanga and their fleet of Bicycles!

By Erick Kabendera

TANGA – On Taifa road on a Friday at seven p.m. people lazily rode their bicycles back home after a busy day at work. The cars moved slowly, their engines purring patiently against the constant ting-a-ling sound from the bicycle bells. Taifa road, one of the main roads here, boasts heavy bicycle traffic at peak hour in the mornings and evenings.
The motorists seemed to be taking extra care to avoid knocking down cyclists who were out in swarms on the road. As both motorists and cyclists edged forward, they exchanged sometimes-harsh, sometimes-friendly barbs over who had the right of way on the main road.
Somewhere further along stood two traffic cops flagging down cyclists whom they would then check for compliance over accessories like reflectors, lights and bells. Some riders stopped while others ignored and rode past the traffic policemen.
A middle-aged man who had stopped found himself being berated by the policemen who held his bicycle. It had neither reflectors nor a bell. After an exchange that lasted a few minutes, they let him go – without his bicycle.
He later told me that the bicycle that had been impounded belonged to his father. The old man had merely requested him to help take it home for him. He said he had tried telling the cops so but they were buying none of it. They had instead ordered him to go to the traffic offices the following morning with the accessories before he could get his bicycle back.
But Stiba Mohamed, 28, who rents out bicycles, said it takes more than presenting the cops with the missing accessories to get back your impounded bicycle. As a renter he has had a lot of his bicycles taken from his customers by the police. He has to go to the police himself to recover his property.
“You have to go with the missing accessories to the police and then pay a fine of Sh5,000 before you’re given back your bicycle,” he said.
Most cyclists here are unhappy with the police practice of impounding bicycles. They argue that they do not willingly flaunt the laws by riding bicycles lacking in important accessories. Mohamed says sometimes it is very difficult to replace the broken parts because of a scarcity of that particular type.
Half of his fleet of 25 bicycles is of the ‘Sewa’ make for which it is difficult to attach things that they were not designed or made with. Sewa bicycles, for example, do not come with have a place to fix a light. “The traffic policemen can’t understand this,” says Mohamed.
He adds that traffic policemen claim people who ride bicycles at night are likely to cause accidents but he argues it can’t be because historically Tanga’s bicycle population exceeds that of cars by far. The tendency in his business is for people to hire his bicycles and bring them back the following morning.
A few weeks ago, he suffered a major financial setback when the traffic police impounded 10 of his bicycles without the required accessories. He had to report to the station with the accessories and then pay Sh5000 for each bicycle to have it back. He says he only showed the cops the accessories just so they could give him back his machines but in reality it was impossible to fix them onto the bicycles. He is keeping the accessories at home until the next swoop.
“Can you imagine I paid Sh50,000 to get back my bicycles?” he said. “This was too much for me because I only earn Sh12000 from each bicycle for a day and I also have to offset the loan at the shop where I bought them.”
He argues that the police should just be content with the owners presenting them with the required part and not demand a fine from them.
In fact, the high population of bicycles in Tanga has also meant a high rate of bicycle-related accidents being recorded especially at night when some people go out without lights, bells or reflectors.
The regional police commander, Isaya Mngulu, said that in a one-week safety exercise conducted at the beginning of May, about 97 bicycles were impounded for whom their owners turned up with the required accessories. They were fined before being given back their bicycles. From that swoop five bicycles, whose owners have still not showed up, are still in police custody. But there are more bicycles chained outside the regional traffic police offices. Some of them seemed to have stayed there for a long time with their tire rims covered in rust. There were also a number of cars and motorcycles but the bicycles were more.
Regardless, according to traffic police statistics, this year has recorded a slight increase in bicycle accidents than last year. Twelve accidents were recorded between January and April 2006 in which 10 people died while 13 were injured. Within the same period (January to April) last year, 11 accidents occurred leaving four people dead and 18 injured.
Basing on this, argued the RPC, the police cannot sit down and watch as people die yet it is their duty to protect lives. “We need to intervene and rescue people in such circumstances,” Mngulu said.
He says the safety operation is also taking place in Tabora, which has as many bicycles as Tanga. Mngulu worked in Tabora last year before he came to Tanga where he started the operation.
But the police here are doing more than just impounding bicycles to keep the accident rates in check. They have also used events like the National Road Safety week to create awareness among cyclists on the safety precautions they should take while on the road.
The RPC said when the owner of an impounded bicycle returns with the required parts and he is told to pay a fine, he is always issued with a receipt.
Idrissa Ngazija, 48, is a Ngamiani ward resident who applauds the exercise. He said the traffic situation is often chaotic during the festive seasons. During the time too, the cops become tougher, impounding more bicycles than at any other time of the year.
Ngazija said people typically complain that the traffic policemen at the time are on the lookout for a quick buck but he finds their work commendable.
“I think there’s more credit to the exercise than what the ordinary people. I think they are helping us because more accidents occur at that time ,” said Ngazija who owns three bicycles.
While the likes of Mohamed are unhappy with the tough cops prowling the roads, parts sellers are not complaining at all. Celestine Kiria, 25, runs a bicycle accessories shop – one among countless others situated along Ngamiani Street. He says though the swoops on cyclists caught in the wrong have been on and off for more than three years now, it became more serious with the arrival of RPC Mngulu at the beginning of this year. There’s a steady stream of customers to the Ngamiani street shops from dawn to dusk and Kiria is constantly attending to people as we speak. He said the accessories prices depend on the country where they are made with the more expensive ones being those from China. The bells from China for instance go for Sh3,000 while those from India cost about Sh2,500.
In Tanga in general, you’re likely to see fewer cars and commuters buses and motorcycles than in other towns its size. Students, pupils, teachers, banking clerks, men and women all ride bicycles. And a typical household could have at least five of them around – for mum, dad, son, daughter and house help.
Though there are no official statistics to confirm this, a visitor to this area for the first time will indeed wonder why the bicycle is the favoured mode of transport here. One obvious reason is that Tanga is mostly flat land. And the RPC says most people find the bicycles to be more affordable than cars for instance. Also, since discovering the bike, residents have come to appreciate that it gets you there faster as it can easily get around places where cars would have a hard time.
But not all people who ride bicycles here own them. Mohamed, the renter, says all his 25 bicycles are always out on hire by different people. Some use them to carry out different activities within town during the day but the main customers are those who come to work in town from the city outskirts.
“They come here in the evening after work and hire them to go home for Sh500 and return them in the morning,” Mohamed said.
Doesn’t he worry about having his property in the hands of strangers?
Mohamed says since he started this business he has not experienced any theft to date. Neither has he heard his peers complaining about a customer disappearing with a bicycle.
I had the opportunity to attending the Motor Rally Championship awards ceremony at Popatlal Secondary School. At least half of the people gathered at the school’s football pitch to witness the award-giving had bicycles. Some of them didn’t even seek for chairs to sit on as they witnessed the ceremony; they sat comfortably on their bicycles.
Ali Shedangiro, 45, a resident of Mikanjuni in Mabawa ward owns two bicycles with one of them used by his wife. He knows some neighbours who have a bicycle for each member of the family.
Shendangiro has three children who study at Mikanjuni primary and secondary school respectively but he says he didn’t think it was important for him to buy bicycles for them because the schools are near home. He felt his wife and him needed the bicycles more.
“Almost everyone at Mikanjuni primary and secondary schools, from the teachers to students, rides a bicycle to and from school,” said Shedangiro.
Some people in Tanga believe that the region has many bicycles for historical reasons. Some say the region had no commuter buses until three years ago when they were allowed to operate. Getting around for those who didn’t own cars was very difficult so many found comfort in the bicycle. They could afford it too.
“Geographically, Tanga region in not mountainous and it is easy to ride a bicycle from one district to another,” Shedangiro said. “They are also affordable for most people.”
The prices of bicycle range between Sh40,000 (secondhand) and Sh75,000 depending on the type. It is safe, however, to budget for Sh80,000 for a brand new machine.
But the bicycle is also of cultural significance among the six tribes of this region. They have a saying in Kiswahili here that goes: “Ukitaka kuoa mwanamke wa Tanga sharti huwe na Baiskeli na Redio.” (Meaning; if you want to get married in Tanga, you should own a bicycle and a radio.) Tanga women too are wont to joke amongst themselves about how they men who don’t own both are not worthy of any attention.
The tribes of the coastal area especially Digo, Bondei, Zigua and Segeju who depend on the charcoal and local brew trade as well as fishing, make plenty of returns on their investment using just the bicycle for transportation.
But not everyone itching for a bicycle can just jump and straddle theirs. Among the Digo it is believed that if a girl nearing puberty rides a bicycle she risks losing her virginity. Consequently many people who are keen on marrying off their daughter some day steadfastly forbid their pubescent girls from riding.