In any Yemeni city, town, village or remote stretch of road you are likely to find a dubab (minivan bus), not to be mistaken for thubab (fly).
In Sana’a you can get almost everywhere on a dubab or two, or sometimes three. There are no actual bus stops, all you need to do is stand on the side of the road and wave one down. They’ll stop if they have space for you, and sometimes stop even if there is no space – so hold on tight!
Generally you would never have to wait more than a few minutes for one of these dubabs to come along, except if you are a woman. If a bus is full of men, you will have to wait until one comes along that already has a woman in it, or has a whole row seat vacant. If you travelling on the dubab alone and no other women get on the bus during your ride, you will have to pay for two seats because the driver feels he is missing out on making money on the seat beside you because non-mahram men and women do not sit beside each other in the dubab. Sometimes the men don’t mind re-arranging their seating by squashing five men into a seat made for three in order to accommodate a sister in Islam.
I haven’t had any bad experiences on the dubab buses, but there have been reports of men sitting behind women and sliding their hand under the seat in front – which would be very disturbing for the sister sitting there! There are also regular occurrences of people falling off, especially children.
Prices for rides on the dubab are very reasonable. Most trips cost 20 riyal (approx 15c at the time of writing). A trip in a taxi of the same distance would cost around 300-400 riyal, so you can see that the dubab is good value and readily available with minimal fuss (when travelling by taxi you need to negotiate the price before getting in).
If you aren’t sure which bus to get on, it is not a problem to ask. The bus is full of people who know where they are going and will let you know if it is the right bus. At main bus gathering areas there are ‘conductors’ who have a face full of qat (mild narcotic plant) and take commission off the bus drivers for finding passengers. They will put you on the right bus – but of course, you will have to know where you are going and know it in Arabic!
In Sana’a you can get almost everywhere on a dubab or two, or sometimes three. There are no actual bus stops, all you need to do is stand on the side of the road and wave one down. They’ll stop if they have space for you, and sometimes stop even if there is no space – so hold on tight!
Generally you would never have to wait more than a few minutes for one of these dubabs to come along, except if you are a woman. If a bus is full of men, you will have to wait until one comes along that already has a woman in it, or has a whole row seat vacant. If you travelling on the dubab alone and no other women get on the bus during your ride, you will have to pay for two seats because the driver feels he is missing out on making money on the seat beside you because non-mahram men and women do not sit beside each other in the dubab. Sometimes the men don’t mind re-arranging their seating by squashing five men into a seat made for three in order to accommodate a sister in Islam.
I haven’t had any bad experiences on the dubab buses, but there have been reports of men sitting behind women and sliding their hand under the seat in front – which would be very disturbing for the sister sitting there! There are also regular occurrences of people falling off, especially children.
Prices for rides on the dubab are very reasonable. Most trips cost 20 riyal (approx 15c at the time of writing). A trip in a taxi of the same distance would cost around 300-400 riyal, so you can see that the dubab is good value and readily available with minimal fuss (when travelling by taxi you need to negotiate the price before getting in).
If you aren’t sure which bus to get on, it is not a problem to ask. The bus is full of people who know where they are going and will let you know if it is the right bus. At main bus gathering areas there are ‘conductors’ who have a face full of qat (mild narcotic plant) and take commission off the bus drivers for finding passengers. They will put you on the right bus – but of course, you will have to know where you are going and know it in Arabic!
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2 comments:
I heard from yemeniniqabi.blogspot.com, you are going to Yemen by yourself.
You are so brave sister, take care.
Love to read your blog
Assalamu'alaykum,
i was already in Yemen, and I stayed there for 8 months. It was difficult but excellent.
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