“Grinng! Grinng!” “Grinnng!! Grinng!!” It’s 5 a.m. For many Nigerians, it’s not just a new day. It’s another day of transportation stress. Because transportation is more than just moving from one place to another.
It’s about how long it will take to get a bus or keke going your way, how long it will take to reach your destination, and the mood of the driver, the conductor, the passenger beside you, and everyone else you meet along the way.
We have accepted this as part of the routine. But let’s pause and think about what repeated exposure to this kind of stress does to our mental wellbeing. Have you thought about how it follows us home, to the office, the market, the church, and everywhere else we go?
That’s a conversation worth having. So let’s take a closer look at the Nigerian public transportation system and what transportation stress means for our mental wellbeing.
Transportation Stress Starts Before the Day Breaks
It’s just 5 a.m., but your mind has already opened six different tabs, each one anticipating what could go wrong. Will I even see a bus or keke going my way on time? Will the driver have change? What if I meet an angry driver or a frustrated passenger? What if I don’t make it to my destination on time?
And just like that, before you have even thanked God for the new day, you are already worrying about a journey you have not started. If you have ever been penalised for lateness, or watched a one-hour journey turn into a three-hour one, you understand the anxiety that comes with it.
Jenni Gobind researched transport-related anxiety and found that enduring these challenges daily increases anxiety levels, which then spill into the workplace and affect work performance. Although the study focused on South African commuters, it offers a useful perspective on how transportation stress extends well beyond the journey itself.
At this point, you are not just dealing with transportation. You are dealing with everything else that could go wrong.
Different Faces, Different Battles
Transportation stress is not something you carry alone. Regardless of how you feel that morning, you still have to leave the house. You still have to hop on a bus, keke or bike, even if it takes longer than expected.
Then, you’re surrounded by different faces carrying more than they let on; you take on the silent responsibility of moving and speaking carefully so as not to upset anyone. One wrong move and you are dealing with a sharp response from the driver, an irritated passenger, or yourself snapping over something you would ordinarily ignore.
The driver is already under pressure to make enough trips for the day. Traffic and other obstacles that prevent him from reaching that goal trigger frustration, which comes out as sharp responses.
And it is not only drivers. The passenger could be worried about losing his job, or facing an angry boss for arriving late. The conductor is dealing with the pressure of filling the bus, dispensing accurate change, and accounting for the day’s revenue.
Beyond the anger, the irritation and the sharp responses is usually just someone trying to get through a rough day. Sadly, not everyone sees it this way, because we are so caught up in our own problems that we forget the person beside us is carrying something too.
So, what happens when frustrated drivers, anxious passengers, exhausted hawkers and deadlines collide, over and over again?
The Wait We All Dread
The vehicle finally starts moving, and just before you catch your breath, boom. Traffic. Traffic is more than sitting and waiting in a bus or keke. It is the noise, the heat, the impatience, and being in an environment where everything is demanding your attention.
To the people in the vehicles, the wait is a delay. To the hawker, it is a chance to make more sales before the traffic starts moving again.
Abdulla Alalool and his colleagues found that sitting in traffic for long periods is linked to stress, aggression, nervousness, dizziness, headaches and other physical and emotional symptoms. While their study looked at drivers in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, it gives useful insight into what long stretches in traffic do to us, physically and emotionally.
Wouldn’t it be nice if all that stress ended the moment you stepped down from the bus? I wish it were so. But after absorbing the outbursts of other people’s problems, some of that stress follows you to wherever you are going.
A mother becomes easily irritated at home. A student struggles to concentrate on what the teacher is saying. A nine-to-five worker feels mentally drained before touching a single task at the office.
Perhaps this is why the conversation matters. There is more to public transportation than buses, drivers, passengers, hawkers and traffic. There are our lived experiences, and what they are doing to our mental wellbeing.
What Can We Do About Transportation Stress?
Now imagine what happens when that transportation stress becomes a daily routine.
Transportation stress is a symptom of problems too big for individuals to solve alone. We need safer roads, better traffic management, and lasting solutions to the many other problems facing the system. But until those changes come, what can we do as individuals whose daily movement depends on it?
Start with patience. The driver who just snapped at you may be having a difficult day. The hawker knocking on the window is trying to make a living. Speak respectfully even when you are frustrated.
Then, when it is safe and practical, find small ways to make the journey gentler for yourself. Listen to music, a podcast, or an audiobook. Start a conversation with the person beside you. Read. Pray or simply journal, which you probably have not done in a while.
We find it frustrating to be stuck in situations we cannot control. These small things will not fix the road, but they will help you handle the wait. And we may not be able to control the traffic or the reactions of the people we meet on the bus or keke. But we can make the journey gentler. Not just for ourselves, but for the person seated next to us.
Conclusion
The next time your loved one comes home unusually tired or irritated, instead of the usual “How was your day?”, make the question a little more specific. Add “How was traffic today?” That small addition may be the invitation they need to open up about a part of their day they did not know how to talk about.
Yes, business may have been overwhelming. Work may have been stressful. Learning may have been exhausting. But those are not the only sources of tiredness. Sometimes they are simply tired from transportation stress and from what it took to move from one place to another.
Author: Miracle Obasi is a Mental Wellness Communication Specialist and ghostwriter who helps professionals and organisations turn complex mental wellness expertise and concepts into clear, relatable content through content strategy and storytelling.
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