Ovalau Better Bus
GROWING up in Levuka during the 60s and the early 80s, I believe we as the kids saw the first ever buses in our life time belonged to the Chagaiya brothers and operated from the base under the foot of the Niukabe Hill.
The bus depot consisted of the owner's house and a fuel bowser and at the rear of the yard was the famous Levuka Club.
The company was called Ovalau Better Buses Company and had a fleet of four wooden body buses mainly the Albion and the Bedford models.
The kids' favourite was the half loaf Bedford that could only accommodate about 30 passengers and travelled very fast.
The company served up to Viro and Lovoni Village along the South Rd and up to Cawaci along the North Rd.
At that time the road was only up to Viro and Cawaci, the bus mainly operated early in the morning and the afternoon and there was also a middle trip during the weekends.
The troublesome one was the Saturday night dance trip that left the town for Cawaci at 7pm and repeated the same route at 10pm.
The passengers were mainly drunk and the bus was regularly stoned due to the excessive noise.
The villages along the way up to Cawaci always looked forward to the bus trip and to the kids standing on the side of the road.
It gives them another opportunity to observe the great vehicle in motion and some just loved the smell of the exhaust fume.
The Bedford buses used to have a luggage compartment on the left side of the bus and one at the rear.
The rear one used to be open and the cover was left in the horizontal position supported with two length of chain.
Whenever the bus stops at the village the adventurous kids sit for free on the open trunk and got off at the next stop.
At times we got the opportunity to ride the amazing machines when sent to town by our parents and always looked forward to another ride.
SATISH NAKCHED
Suva