In Ghana, West Africa, this would be the conductor of a Tro-Tro. The mate collects bus fares, makes change, signals stops, arranges passengers and advertizes the tro-tro route, simultaneously.
1. Ghanaian slag for the popular form of public transit. Tro-tros take the form of large vans converted to seat 12-14 passengers. They are operated by a driver and mate and work along pre-defined routes. The system is best described as organized chaos.
Today I had to wait in line at Circle for 2 hours to catch the Tro-tro to Legon.