Humans of Shuttlers: Building Relationships and Bonding on The Bus -  Aisha Ajayi

Building lasting relationships has progressively moved away from public interactions like conferences, church services, and other physical gatherings. Our aim with this body of work is to show you how you can still make friends in unusual places. 

Today, we are putting the spotlight on a member of the Shuttlers community who shared her experience of meeting her own tribe on a Shuttlers bus.  

Aisha Ajayi—a People and Culture Analyst—shares with us how she built relationships with every passenger on her bus and how they were able to plan a hangout for themselves. So we had a short session with her to share the experience and how the friendship started.

Tell us about yourself

I am Aisha Ajayi, a People, and Culture Analyst. I am passionate about work, people, and everything around me. I am a perfect blend of extrovert and introvert. I love to laugh, watch movies, and watch football (I am a Liverpool fan). I also have a radio show called “Owambe Tales”, on TopRadio 90.9, which airs on Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

When did you start riding with Shuttlers, and how has the experience been so far?

I started riding with Shuttlers in July 2022, and since then, I have never looked back. The experience has been fantastic. Shuttlers gave me a fantastic group of people that I can call friends. We are the Peeps.

What has been your most memorable experience on a Shuttlers bus?

The most memorable experience has to be meeting my “peeps” and hanging out with them.

The relationship began when a Hiace bus was allocated to our route (SRL103) and a WhatsApp group was created for easy communication and daily traffic updates. After a few weeks, a friendship group chat was created, and then we came up with a cool nickname called “The Peeps.” This was how our first outing was planned. Now we have grown from riding together to being a community of friends that care for each other, hang out, and share business opportunities. 

How were you able to pull off the outing with the Peeps?

Everyone was already fond of each other, so planning was not difficult. The WhatsApp group gave us room to properly discuss the venue, date, time, and how much was to be contributed per head. Since we all ride on the same route, coming together was quite easy. We chose a central location to meet up, and everyone came in looking pretty as we ate, played games, and bonded. 

It was surprising to see how everyone on the Surulere to Victoria Island route, both existing and new users, heard about the hangout and, for fear of missing out, hurriedly joined our shuttle. This in turn led to the expansion of the route and a change of bus from a small 14-seater to a 28-seater. In a matter of weeks, we went ahead and planned our second outing.

Give a shout-out to your friends on the popular SRL103 bus.

My experience with Shuttlers has been nothing short of the best. Kudos to the Shuttlers team for their dedication to service, and I also want to give a shout-out to my peeps, Joseph aka Scribe, Omobolanle, Promise, Adunniade, Daniel, and others, for pulling off the first-of-its-kind Shuttlers community hangout.