Accra has street names. Almost nobody uses them.

Directions here are given by landmark and by junction: the third traffic light after the Shell station, turn right at the blue kiosk, it is the house with the green gate. Learning to give and follow directions this way is the first transport skill you need.

The second is knowing which of the city’s overlapping transport systems to use at which hour.

Trotro

The trotro is the backbone of Accra. Converted minibuses, privately owned, running fixed routes between lorry stations, filling up and leaving when full rather than to a timetable.

Cost: from about ₵2.50 for a short hop, up to around ₵12 for a long crosstown run such as Kasoa to Circle.

How it works:

  1. Each trotro has a driver and a mate — the conductor who hangs out of the door, calls the destination and collects fares.
  2. The mate signals the destination with a hand gesture. Circle is a rotating finger. The airport is a hand flattened like a plane. You will learn these by watching.
  3. Wave one down anywhere along the route, or board at a station.
  4. Get in, sit down, pass your fare forward when the mate asks. Change comes back the same way.
  5. Say “bus stop!” when you want to get off. That is the phrase, regardless of whether there is a bus stop.

Understanding trotro routes

Trotros are cheap, social and slow

You will not beat a trotro on price. You will beat it on time with almost anything else. Budget accordingly.

Ride-hailing

Bolt, Uber and Yango all operate in Accra and compete hard, which keeps fares low by international standards. A short off-peak trip runs around ₵25.

Practical notes:

  • Drivers will call you. Answer. They are usually asking for a landmark, because the pin is approximate and the street name means nothing to them.
  • Have a landmark ready. “Opposite the Total filling station at Dzorwulu” works better than an address.
  • Cash or MoMo. Both are normal. Carry small notes; drivers rarely have change for a ₵200.
  • Compare apps. Surge pricing hits them at different times, and the difference on the same trip can be substantial.
  • Fare negotiation happens. Some drivers will ask to cancel and take a cash fare instead. You are not obliged to agree, and doing so removes the trip record.

Okada

okada — commercial motorcycle taxis. Fastest way through Accra traffic by a wide margin, and the most dangerous.

Commercial use of motorcycles to carry fare-paying passengers remains prohibited under the Road Traffic Regulations 2012 (LI 2180), despite recurring political promises to legalise it. Okadas operate openly regardless, and app-based motorcycle services have appeared as well.

If you use one:

  • Insist on a helmet. If there is no second helmet, take a different ride.
  • Agree the fare before getting on.
  • Do not use one in the rain. Accra roads flood, drainage covers go missing, and the combination is genuinely dangerous.

Head injuries from okada crashes are a well-documented burden on Accra’s trauma units. Nothing else in this guide carries the same risk.

Buses

Ayalolo — the bus rapid transit service running dedicated routes with proper stops, scheduled service and a fare card. Where it goes, it is comfortable and predictable.

Metro Mass Transit — larger state-run buses, cheap, and more useful for intercity travel than for moving around Accra.

STC — long-distance intercity coaches, for Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale and beyond.

Taxis

Traditional shared and chartered taxis still operate, marked with yellow corners.

  • “Dropping” means you charter the taxi to yourself, direct to your destination. Negotiate the fare before you get in.
  • Shared taxis run fixed routes like trotros, picking up along the way, at a fixed fare per passenger.

Taxis have no meters. The fare is whatever you agree, so ask a local what a given trip should cost before you need one.

Driving yourself

Possible, and many people do. It requires a DVLA licence or a valid foreign licence within the 12-month grace period, a roadworthy certificate, and insurance.

It also requires tolerance for traffic that does not resemble the traffic you learned in.

Driving in Accra

Practical advice

Rush hour is worse than you think. Roughly 6:30am to 9:30am inbound and 4pm to 7:30pm outbound. Some corridors — Spintex, the Adenta road, Kasoa — are worse still.

Rain changes everything. A heavy downpour floods junctions, stops trotros and multiplies journey times. When it rains hard, the correct answer is often to wait it out somewhere with a roof.

Carry small notes. Trotro mates, taxi drivers and okada riders all need change. A wallet of ₵100 notes is a wallet you cannot spend.

Use your digital address. GhanaPostGPS codes work in ride-hailing apps and with couriers, and they are far more precise than a landmark. — How

Save your regular landmarks. You will describe your house dozens of times. Have the sentence ready.