Taxis in this village are a collection of Toyota Noah's. You'll have to look them up. They are about the size of a Citroen C3 Picasso, with a two litre petrol engine and a constant velocity automatic gearbox. They are all more than ten years old, and imported second hand from India and the surrounding countries of Asia.
They have seven seats, and a driver's seat.
The average speed over the 45km trek to Dodoma is around 30kph because the road is punctuated with heavy corrugations, water damaged gullies and oncoming traffic that makes passing difficult.
The taxis are smooth looking from a distance. Close up they bear scars, bumps, dents, scratches and years of heavy use. The engines seem to run well. One taxi had a howling gear train like the Thameslink trains in London. Two taxis did not have cracked windscreens. One taxi had a speedometer that worked, and another had a rev counter that worked. The air conditioning doesn't work. The radio does. The doors mostly have to be opened from the outside, unless the handles have fallen off. The rear windows are not openable, but are loose and mobile. The door cards are sometimes present, and safety belts too, but no opportunity to wear them. They rattle and judder and provide work and income for the drivers and the people who use them to get to work.We have had four journeys and the prospect of more.
Fourteen people were crammed in the vehicles we travelled in this week. The car is a serious seven seater, but if you fold the back seats down so that the squabs form another seat, and make sure you don't slam the tailgate on the passengers' knees, that's three, even four extra places, and the two rows of legitimate seats can take four each, and the front passenger's seat can take two. It's a necessity, but not a happy one at all.
I worked out that fourteen humans with an estimated average weight of 70kg including luggage was slightly heavier than our little Peugeot 107 which weighs in at 860Kg. 980kg is almost a tonne. Being a Toyota it manages.
My thesis that we should supply a small car to put on the roof of each taxi is not a rational one, just an idea.
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The station.
Germany occupied Tanzania at the beginning of the 20th century, and had brought ships for the lakes, and railways and new buildings. In Dodoma there is a clear influence in the old buildings, some of which look as if they belong in the Alps.
Dodoma station is one, roofed in corrugated iron (rather like a well known sailing club on the river Thames). A model railway enthusiast might build one of these for their layout.
