A perhaps little know piece of Riyadh history is what I will refer to as the “Busses of Olaya.” These busses are (now) small antiquated coasters which provide inexpensive public transport in Riyadh primarily in the area of the City Centre and Butha. The service was started more than 30 years ago and has been provided to Riyadh residents and visitors for two generations. The busses are recognized by their predominantly white color with red and blue stripes. The back end of the bus will depict a small sign indicating its route. These busses are not air conditioned and do not look as if they would be heated during the cooler winter months either. Most of these busses are derelict and in very poor condition. The reason for this is that the government is no longer maintaining the busses believing them to be obsolete and having served their purpose. As these busses deteriorate beyond repair they are being retired. Two years ago during a special Ramadan show there was a story (Nahee show) about these busses. Nahee, a Saudi bedu, was a driver of one of these busses.
It is sad to know that this niche of Riyadh history will soon disappear. I attempted to do google searches about these busses but was unable to find any substantive information. The references to busses and Riyadh all lead to links about SAPTCO (Saudi Arabian Public Transportation Company) which has modern day busses that provide transport around the Kingdom. The only brief mention was via www.wikitravel.org:
Flat-fare minibuses (SR 3) rumble the streets of Riyadh, but these are mostly used by laborers. They are quite difficult for the casual visitor to use: there are no posted stops, and routes are usually written only in Arabic. Most routes converge on al-Bathaa, and the adventurous visitor can try his luck on route 9, which runs from al-Bathaa up Olaya Road.
Filed under: culture, Saudi Arabia, travel
Do you see women riding these buses with their husband, brother, father…?
No; I have only seen men (primarily laborers) riding the Olaya busses. You will see women on the SAPTCO busses. But routine routes around Riyadh for example will still practice segregation whereas there would be transport for women and separate transport for men. In these cases, this is not public transport per se, but special transport to/from specific places of work and usually arranged by the employer.
yamato it’s pretty common to see women using personal taxis.. but never buses… anyhow about the buses… some of those guys are pretty wild haha… I think some are confusing that 30 year old beast with a small road-hugging porsche by the way they drive haha….
Ali – Yes; I do agree with you on the way some of these bus drivers drive! It will be sad though when this part of Riyadh history is gone.
Years back not realizing that while women can ride the buses in Bahrain…not many choose to…i took my first bus ride with my children to Manama. When I got on the bus all fell completely silent. It was all labourers. The entire bus ride the only sound that could be heard were my children excitedly chattering away. When we finally disembarked I do believe there was a collective sigh of relief…for what Im not sure.
two points to make…culture aside I think I discovered why women dont generally ride the local buses. 20 or 30 men who have been working very hard in the sun and might not actually take showers as often as some of us would hope…need I say more. And…..bus drivers must spend their breaks dreaming of that missed opportunity to be a Formula 1 driver…for they certainly take the chance to live out the dream on the roads of Bahrain. Even the narrow alleys and tight fitting double parked roads are zoomed down without even a passing glance at the break pad. I lost count of the number of times side mirrors were thunked…and some completely taken off…and the driver didnt even bother to glance back and see what the noise was…passengers were busy doing the mannequin impressions,…and I was trying to decide just how much I liked the clothes I was wearing because i feared they would need either severe airing and cleaning…or be tossed out. It was an experience anyhow…not likely to be repeated.
Thanks for sharing that unique experience, Coolred!
It seems like in most third world countries and arab countries, women should generally avoid busses. Perhaps Dubai would be an exception?
LoL… I hate driving near those buses… the drivers truly are worst then the common taxi driver!
But on a different note… I usually look in and look at the passengers faces… each of them has something in their eyes.. tired, worried, and probably over worked! I truly feel for them….
I remember there was this time when I was with my daughter… and she was sitting in her rear facing car seat… and all of a sudden I see her smiling and laughing… and then I look out the window to see what she is looking at… and she is laughing with this man in one of these buses.. it was adorable.. but the poor guy looked away in a scare when i looked his way (probably used to getting dirty looks from other ladies).. I wanted to tell him its OK, I would never get mad at someone who just made my little baby smile like that!
I never even realized that those busses were considered public transportation! I thought they were busses provided to the workers by the company or idividuals that they work for.
Allowed or not, you couldn’t pay me enough to want to ride on one!
Om Lujain and Umm Sumayah, I enjoyed your comments and thoughts of the Olaya busses. You’re quite right; most of the riders (laborers) in the busses do look exhausted and as if they just want to get to their destination.
And yes; we give them a wide berth on the roadways too!
I’m sure those bus drivers would be pleased to read your article, Carol.
Let me give you a little bit of an insight about these buses. In local terms, we call them “khat Al-Baldah”, which literally translates to “the Village Line”. These buses are still operating, however issuance of new permits has stopped. The existing ones are allowed to continue their work until they permanently retire. So in essence, these busses will vanish from the streets of Riyadh some day. I have used them before just for the sake of trying something new to me, and I don’t think I’ll do it again. As always, I enjoy anything new to me, but there were a few things that were not so pleasant. For example, due to the limited seating and standing areas, we had to be back-to-back, and this, obviously, does not bring a comforting feeling. And believe me; you don’t want me talking to you about the smell.
I have seen very few Saudis riding these busses, and I have never seen women riding them. There was at some point though some busses by SASCO operating within the city of Riyadh. I still remember getting on bus number 2 with my mom, which took us from the area nearby Shumaisi hospital to the old market where my mom did most of her shopping, but that was some 20 years ago or so.
Hope this helps!!
I’ve always wondered why, with all the oil money and the intense heat in the middle east, why they don’t have underground subways, for the cities and to connect the GCC countries at least.
I’ve only been on one subway system in from San Francisco to another city just for the fun of it. Incredible, it’s called BART. Very plush seats, full A.C. and clean.
Anyone know why they don’t use these over here? Seems so logical.
There’s been talk about putting in subways or something similar. I personally think that everyone is too stuck up here to care about public transportation, when its just as cheap and easy to get a personal driver who’s at your beck and call.
Nader – thank you so much for giving the additional insights and background into the busses. Sadly there is little to no info on the internet about them and much of my post was with the assistance of my Saudi husband and his knowledge of the busses.
I wish Riyadh would have a subway or type of metro system that connected between the popular shopping centers, restaurants and hospitals but I just don’t see that coming anytime soon. Just think of it; there would need to be separate enclosed waiting areas for women as well as women-only cars, plus I can just imagine the muttawa issuing a ban against subway transport saying it would be another way for men and women to meet up! (okay…I know that last comment was a little sarcastic, but I’m still smarting over the ban on cats and dogs…)