With the privatisation of the Corporate Area public transportation system in the 1980s, as well as the introduction of smaller, faster buses, such as the Coaster and 'Quarter Million' to replace the venerable 'Jolly', Jamaicans travelled in dramatically different style.

The pace was faster but the spaces were smaller, with persons from different backgrounds and on varying 'trods' often literally cheek and jowl (as well as rubbing various body parts). This was at a time when the motor-vehicle-importation policy was still restrictive, hence the bus was the mode of transportation for most.

The buses teemed with life, sometimes humorous, often acrimonious, and made for fertile musical ground. Among the prominent 'bus tunes' are:

Professor Nuts

1. Inna De Bus by Professor Nuts: The ultimate comic deejay applies his wit and observation to the various happenings on a particular minibus journey. It presents a number of typical minibus characters; there is the passenger calling "One stop driver!" and the other complaining "Hey Miss D, yu arm smell bad."

There is the 'ducta' coming 'dung wid de money bag, a shout fares please! till im troat ole tiad', and the woman who sees a 'chink' on someone's shirt. "She run go tek it off, de an sey put e back, oonu want everyting oonu see black man got!"

2. Two White Girls on a Minibus by Althea and Donna. As popular for its video (featuring the Toyota Hiace which dominated 'country' routes) as the song itself, it documents the travels and travails of two foreigners who choose to rough it on the bus.

They complain that when someone wanted to get off "the whole damned bus had to stop and unpack" and, when they finally get off, the conductor observes "white girl a travel Jamaican style!"

3. De Blinkin' Bus by Lloyd Lovindeer: The laughing, lyrical bus focuses on the frustrations of travelling by the minibus, singing "So here we are, we no have no cyar, cyaa drop no style, we business spwile, when we have to ride, pon de blinkin bus, you fuss and cuss, but yu have to ride pon de blinkin' bus". How bad is it? "Dem kin a bus, wi mek Christian cuss," Lovindeer observes.

- M.C.

In the story titled ‘Chaotic bus system fertile ground for lyrics’ published on Sunday, November 23, the song Two White Girls on a Minibus was incorrectly credited to Althea and Donna. The song was, in fact, performed by The Word. We regret the error.