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Transport & Travel
30 entries in this part of the language, each with meanings, pronunciation and worked examples.
- Bus park The terminus or depot where buses and route taxis gather, load passengers, and set off — a…
- Canoe A fishing boat — traditionally a dugout hollowed from a single large tree trunk (often…
- Causeway A causeway — a raised road built across water or marshland.
- Charter To hire a taxi (or bus) exclusively for yourself, rather than sharing it as a route 'robot'…
- Coaster A mid-sized passenger minibus — originally the Toyota Coaster — used for public transport…
- Coaster bus A mid-sized minibus — named after the Toyota Coaster model — that runs public routes…
- Come back To come back — to return, especially to return home, often after time spent 'a farrin'…
- Country bus The bus that runs the long routes between the rural districts ('country') and the town or…
- Cowboy A reckless, daredevil driver — especially a minibus, coaster, or route-taxi driver who…
- Dead wagon A vehicle that carries the dead — a hearse, or the van that collects a body.
- Donkey cart A two-wheeled cart pulled by a donkey — the traditional country vehicle for hauling…
- Drive To drive a vehicle — but in Jamaica this conjures the wild, fast, horn-blaring style of the…
- Drop off To drop someone or something off — to carry a passenger or a parcel and set them down at a…
- Ductor The conductor on a minibus or coaster — the young man who hangs from the door, calls out…
- Fare Fare — the money you pay to ride a bus or taxi, and by extension the passenger who pays it…
- Grip A suitcase or travel bag — the everyday word for the case you pack for a journey…
- Hitch To catch a free ride or a lift — 'gi mi a hitch' means give me a lift.
- Lift A free ride in someone's vehicle — 'beg a lift' is to ask for a ride, and 'gi mi a lift'…
- Loada The man at a bus or taxi park whose job is to 'load' the vehicles — rounding up passengers…
- Market truck The open truck that carries higglers, their produce, and their hampers from the country to…
- Marl road An unpaved road surfaced with 'marl' — the whitish, chalky, crushed-limestone earth used to…
- Pushcart A wooden or metal cart pushed by hand, used to move goods, produce, and loads — especially…
- Ride out To ride or drive out on the road, especially in a group — a bike run, a bicycle or…
- Robot An unlicensed, unregistered taxi operating illegally for hire — a private car whose owner…
- Robot taxi An unlicensed, illegal taxi — a private car operating as a public taxi without the proper…
- Route taxi A licensed shared taxi that runs a fixed route, picking up and dropping passengers along…
- Taxi-man A taxi driver — the man who runs a route or charter taxi, a familiar figure of Jamaican…
- Tek taxi 'Take a taxi' — to travel by taxi, above all the shared 'route taxi' that runs a fixed road…
- Water truck A tanker truck that delivers water to homes and communities, especially where there is no…
- Whip Whip — in modern slang, a car, especially a nice one: 'a criss whip' is a clean, sharp ride.