Lagos moves about twenty million people a day on a road network built for a fraction of that. Nothing here is fast. The skill is choosing the option whose slowness you can predict.
What your choices are
| Fare | Notes | |
|---|---|---|
| Danfo | ₦300–₦2,500 | Goes everywhere. No timetable, no map |
| Keke | about ₦500 | Short hops, estates, from a bus stop |
| BRT | up to ₦1,500 | Fixed fare, own lane, Cowry card only |
| Blue Line rail | ₦750 | Marina to Mile 2. Cowry card only |
| Bolt or Uber | from about ₦3,500 | Priced by demand, and demand means rain |
| Ferry | varies | Genuinely the fastest thing across the lagoon |
Danfo
The yellow minibuses are the actual transport system, and they carry more people than everything else combined.
A danfo runs a route between motor parks and leaves when it is full rather than at a time. It has a driver and a conductor. There is no timetable, no route map, no stops and no published fare — the fare rises with the petrol price and again when it rains.
You are travelling in stages, not journeys. “Mainland to island” is typically two or three danfos with a walk between them, and the fares add up. Keep small notes: change is a running argument, and a ₦1,000 note for a ₦300 fare is your problem, not the conductor’s.
At the park you will meet an agbero, collecting from the drivers rather than from you. That is between him and the driver.
BRT and the rail lines
The BRT runs in its own lane, which is the entire point — it is the one road option that is not subject to the traffic. Fares are fixed and it is roughly half the danfo fare over the same distance.
The Blue Line rail runs Marina to Mile 2, and the Red Line runs north from Oyingbo along the existing rail corridor.
All of them need a Cowry card. Buy one at any BRT terminal and top it up. Cash is not accepted on BRT or on the trains.
Okada
Motorcycle taxis are banned across most of the Lagos local government areas, including nearly all of the areas a newcomer would be moving through. Enforcement is real, and it includes seizing and crushing the bikes.
Where they still operate, they are involved in a wholly disproportionate share of the serious injuries treated at Lagos hospitals. If you use one anyway, wear the helmet.
Driving
You may drive on a foreign or international licence for 3 months. After that you need a Nigerian licence — 5 years costs ₦21,000 through the FRSC, and the minimum age is 18.
Your vehicle needs a certificate of roadworthiness, valid 12 months, from the Lagos Vehicle Inspection Service.
Petrol is around ₦900 a litre and moves constantly.
The thing nobody tells you
Plan around the bridges, not the distance. Third Mainland, Carter and Eko are the three ways between the mainland and the island, and when one closes the other two absorb it.
Before you commit to a flat, make the commute you would actually make, at the hour you would actually make it, in both directions. A twelve-kilometre journey is not a twelve-kilometre journey at 7am.