Multitasking

This weekend I became convinced of something that I had realized a while back…that minibus drivers in this town are masters of multitasking. They have so many things going on at one time, and yet seem to be completely in control of them all. To start with, they’re driving (yes, a necessary part of the job). Often times this accompanies smoking a cigarette out the window and/or talking on a cell phone. That’s three things, (and yes sometimes all three are ongoing) but that is just the start. When the bus leaves a starting point (like in Pendik) the drivers are also keeping track of about four other things. Money is being passed up by people in mass (I still am amazed that this honor system works so well here) so the driver is keeping track of how much he received, where they said they were going, how much change he needs to dig out while at the same time separating the coins by type. He is often handing back change and collecting the next amount at the same time, with one fare in the middle stage. They also seem to have an amazing idea of how many people they’ve crammed into their bus and will prompt more to pay with a shouted “Başka?” “Other?” if they don’t feel like they’ve received enough yet. All of this is going on while driving along the route (cigarette in hand). At the same time a driver is shouting out for additional riders, honking the horn to check and see if anyone needs to get on, and paying attention to where someone says that they need to get out. It’s amazing that they can keep it all straight. I’m in awe at these men’s ability to multitask, and even more impressed with the fact that I feel safer in one of their minibuses then I often feel in a taxi. (Perhaps that means you don’t want to hear about the taxis…) Driving a minibus in Turkey definitely requires more than the skill of just driving.