Last Updated On September 22, 2020.
Korope is to Osun as Danfo is to Lagos, they are basically commercial buses which operate within the southwestern states.
Now starting with colour, the korope bus is painted blue (and yellow vinyl) while the danfo has a bright yellow (and black vinyl) hue. For clear details, the korope’s colour is a striking resemblance with BRT’s in Lagos state.
I lived in Osogbo – capital city of Osun state for a year and during this time, I did a lot of commuting on korope. Simply put, they are minibuses, usually seven-seater and models like the Nissan, Bedford, Mazda Scrum, Toyota and the most common, Suzuki Carry 1.3 are very much popular on the streetscape.
For people who want to tap into the public transit market in Osun, I think an average korope bus price is between 870,000 to 1.5 million Naira. You can get it for way less if you buy tokunbo (Nigeria used).
The range of vehicle choices here are cut out for the job and this makes getting around for everyone quite easy.
To make complete sense of this article, you should check out my post on danfo buses.
If you’re ready and I am, let’s get started on this epic comparison.
1. Comfort: Although I’m a Lagosian, if I’m being totally honest, I’ll mention that the korope is at least 80% more comfortable than Lagos’ danfo.
Why would I say so, you may ask?
Well, the thing is Osun is home to many skilled artisans who are very crafty when it comes to designing seats for the korope. To start with, the seats are steel framed and are often cushioned using a foam and leather encasing.
Compared to the Lagos danfo riddled with plank seats which makes journeys less-than-perfect, the comfort of the korope is near-top-class.
In all likelihood, your trip in the korope is only going to be uncomfortable if you’re the front seat passenger and the driver insists that you share with another person. This rarely happens.
2. Traffic: From an Osogbo point of view, there’s little or no gridlock during rush hours when compared to Ikeja in Lagos.
And because of the lesser traffic congestion, many drivers who run their korope business are very cool-headed. They are efficient and coordinated and there’s no craze or competition with other road users hence, less reckless driving.
3. Availability: Like I said, there’s hardly any traffic congestion around and during morning and evening rush hours, there are korope buses accessible for everyone and maybe you have to wait a few minutes on some occasions, trust me when I say that you’ll get going pretty soon.
In Lagos what happens is commuters hurry to board danfo buses and sometimes hurt themselves in the process because they aren’t quite enough. In extreme cases, transport workers or commuters even fight eachother at busy bus stops.
You know, I think that since Osun doesn’t suffer from an overwhelming population (at the moment) like Lagos does, this could be a tie… sorta.
4. Fares: I’ll start by saying that many Osun state residents are cultural and this positively affects them in their daily lives, drivers respect the opinion of commuters, help the elderly for free sometimes and in most cases, are not exploitive.
The fares are reasonably priced and aren’t unexpectedly hiked up during rainy weather, rush hours or late nights as they do in Lagos.
Big win for korope!
5. Drivers: In general, danfo drivers drive senseless but on the flipside, korope drivers are relatively calm behind the wheel. They obey traffic lights, speed limits and the comfort of passengers is usually their number-one priority.
The best part for me is unlike in Lagos, there’s no intrusion from agberos (street touts) while in transit and because there’s no kind of unnecessary stops or delays emanating from such force, drivers in Osun can focus more on the road and arrive in good time.
Heck, I can’t cope with reckless driving and some of my worst commuting experiences happened in a danfo… sob, sorry Lagos. Not this time.
Final Thoughts
Ha! It looks like the korope won this battle hands down (except we’re adding capacity because danfo carries more but…).
For me honestly, korope is a fun way of getting around the streets of Osun but do you think it’s better than the Lagos danfo?
Kindly leave your word in the comments section below.
See you in transit.
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ERICOTRIPS 
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