Conductors should stop hissing at passengers

Bus conductors as they are known, are some of the most hardworking people, given the nature of their job. However, this sympathy vanishes when they start hissing at passengers, in an attempt to lure them to a Nyabugogo or, town or, Remera taxi.They can simply ask passengers about where they are going, but some deliberately choose to hiss at even the passersby who clearly does not intend to board seeing as they are moving in the opposite direction.Mature folks still insist that hissing is a rude signal, because in practice, it was done to scare away animals, or call pets and people who were perceived as cheap, like prostitutes. Josiane Usanase, a beautician who uses public transport every morning is so bothered by this mode of communication. “It is very upsetting to see some shabby guy hissing at you, as if you were their maid or something yet you are close to the car and they can ask you verbally,” she complains.She also notes that such conductors do not seem to care that their language is demeaning but have instead turned it into a normal thing. Sandrine Mukesha, a student at Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) also said, “I can never go near the vehicle of someone hissing at me because it makes me feel so dishonored.”The habit has lately crawled to almost every corner of the transport system in Rwanda, and even conveyors from transport companies that were regarded as executive and express, now practice the rude habit. Motorcycles, and even regular traders, like those working in competitive areas, like markets, hiss at everyone approaching the market. No one wants to be hissed at. It is rude and demeaning, not to mention uncivilized!