From Megarider to ‘Matatunised’ Transport System

I know national attention is currently on Ocampo and issues of the Constitution, with our leaders fighting to ‘redeem’ us from the Rome Statute, not to mention Wikileaks and corruption, and our quarrel with our foreign friends. As we focus on these very important events or issues in the life of our nation; a normal occurrence in our national character – we are never lacking drama. With the myriad of problems facing us on a daily basis, we need these distractions. But if we want to change things in this our ‘land and nation’, we should start analyzing our leadership from the perspective of services to ‘wananchi’ and the results we are reaping from poor leadership. Not so much by the international highlights but what our leadership means to the day to day lives. So I am starting the series of blog articles with the transport system and congestion in our city.

You and I know and live the night mare that is the traffic jam in our city. A lot of thinking has been going on, on how best to solve the problems of congestion and traffic jams. But it would seem that our leaders think in instalments, for lack of a suitable phrase. A decongestion programme for the city was ‘unveiled’, with a brilliant idea of keeping away ‘matatus’ and buses from the city centre. That means only private cars have access to the Central Business District (CBD) and designated buses which would serve commuters within the CBD, from the ‘matatu’ drop out stations. That of course makes a lot of sense for those who own cars, but not for very long as there are plans to increase the parking charges from KES 140 to KES 500 per day; a bounty for the City Council but digging deeper into the pockets of those Nairobians who have no choice but to drive into the city, not to mention the ungodly hours that people in the capital city of this ‘working nation’ have to wake up to make it to get parking and to avoid the perpetual traffic jams.

How did we get where we are, if not through the wise leadership that we voted in, in 2002, who had brilliant ideas of modernizing this city in a multi-party democracy? The issue of leadership is a topic for another day; for now the focus is on factors that have contributed to the congestion and the lengthening traffic jams. As city and national leadership in their infinite wisdom pay attention to and try to address the symptoms, it is obvious the bigger picture becomes blurred.  

The big question the authorities need to ask themselves is whether the decongestion plans were carefully thought through, with commuter’s interest taken into account? Is removal of ‘matatus’ from the city centre the solution? And are the proposed 25 seater ‘matatus’ the city transport of the future? Will increasing parking fee decongest the city centre? Of course the proposed rates are ‘petty cash’ for the people in City Hall. The other question is what effect the removal of ‘matatus’ will that have on commuters who have to be dropped at Kariorkor, Westlands, Ladhies Muthurwa and elsewhere? These are the majority of people working in the city centre and are they expected to walk longer distances to their places of work? What about the connections to other places such as Upper Hill, Westlands and Yaya Centre area? I guess that is not a problem because it affects the silent majority, who sacrificed to walk to work as new regulations to rein the ‘matatus’, through the introduction of safety belts and speed governor directives were being implemented, not so long ago. City buses were also forced to do away with standing passengers. Don’t forget that nobody is adhering to that any more. Are we saying that it will be okay to add to the already huge population of people who walk to work, in this city, not out of choice but because they cannot afford? Is productivity of the working population considered in decisions at the local or central government level?

Let us look, for example, at increasing parking charges for cars getting into the CBD. We are emulating what has been done in the metropolis of the West, e.g. London which introduced congestion fees for entering into the CBD. But we cannot compare ourselves with cities with efficient public transportation; that are served by trains, underground trains, trams and bus services which most of the people use to get to the cities. Trains and buses are scheduled, with linkages to ensure connections from one corner of the city to another. A lot of investment has gone into this; for a productive work force, which doesn’t have to turn up frustrated because of ‘forced’ walking from Ngara, Westlands etc. In these cities, buses, trains and trams are not used by those who have no cars but provide transport to the majority of people working in these cities. Using buses and trains is not transport for the poor while the rich drive into the city. Buses and trams have their own lanes and jams are rare occurrences in the city centres as traffic light system work perfectly and traffic is well controlled, with only an acceptable number of cars allowed into the cities. I must say the police don’t have to interfere with the flow of traffic light. Because the public transport in these countries is not looked down upon, buses pass by palaces, in front of parliament buildings and other important locations, ensuring that citizens don’t have to walk more than 10 minutes from the bus/train station to their work place. Isn’t that possible in Nairobi?

What is amazing is that we seem to be going backwards because Nairobi city, then rightfully ‘the green city in the sun’ (and other towns like Mombasa and Nakuru), had a public transport system that was the envy of other African countries. This was mainly the city bus service, the then Kenya Bus Service; popularly know as KBS. This service had numbered buses that connected different parts of the city, through the city centre. Remember 22; Outer Ring to Uthiru, 23 to Kangemi; 34 from JKIA to Lang’ata? The city bus service had set schedules and therefore did not have to wait with matatus until the bus was full. In fact in the 70 and 80s, the city was so well served that one didn’t have to walk long distances to catch a bus (remember No. 23 and later 49 through Rhapta and Church Roads in Westlands). By mid to late 1990s, the bus service had introduced megariders, an equivalent of one month travel card. For dinosaurs like me, that is not a long time ago. I wonder how many other countries in Africa, south of the Sahara and north of the Limpopo, had city public services at the same level. Children under a certain age paid nothing or half the fare and I remember primary school children and youth going to secondary schools were issued with their bus passes. School children did not have to spend hours at bus stops because ‘matatus’ weren’t too keen to take them in. I think the impact of the ‘matatunisation’ of public transport on education in this city is a discussion for another day.

Then came the true liberalization and breaking of monopolies which we embraced with both hands, again without thinking through a feasible alternative and options that improved services for ‘wananchi’. The whole story started with introduction of shuttles to serve ‘the leafy suburbia’, whose bus service had been withdrawn, most likely to keep off the nuisance of noisy buses from the ‘wakubwas’. The shuttle; higher price, with better seats, music, was a better option for these areas. This meant two bus systems; one to serve the ordinary ‘mwananchi’ and the other to serve the better off city dwellers. In the meantime the bigger buses were getting more run down, with deteriorating service.

And welcome competition and the range of colourful buses. The irony with liberalization is that buses now serve only some ‘lucrative’ routes of the city. They have joined the world of matatus; banging and shouting to attract passengers, and won’t move until the bus is full. Let’s not even belabour the way those ‘monsters’ are driven (I guess that is a sign of healthy competition). A new idea of city buses; where these exist, there is normally bigger space for standing than for sitting passengers. But is a story for another day. More companies were introduced into the city and, at one point, there was talk that all city matatus would be 24 seaters.

Has it occurred that decisions made less than 10 years ago are the causes of the congestion? The public transport system has gone through a slow death, with far reaching consequences. What was expected, with the closure of the KBS Eastleigh Garage? What about the ‘liberalisation’ of the city bus station? What was expected if bus companies were competing for a few routes in the city? What was expected by de-scheduled bus service? The greatest congestion is found in the area around KenCom Building, with long queues of buses along Haile Selassie Avenue, and the lower parts of Moi Avenue,  Koinange Street leading into Kenyatta Avenue (at the GPO), as their counterparts, the ‘matatus’, congest Tom Mboya Street, Accra, Latema Streets and River Road.

I don’t know why I think that if we had reached the level of buying monthly travel card, it was possible to have a transport system similar to those in developed countries; with competing companies allocated routes, timed, and ensuring connections and probably a joint ticketing system. But I guess order and systems of that kind remind us of our colonial past and we would rather have our own ways of doing things, including destroying a whole public system. And when we get instructions from the same foreign friends we are trying to quarrel with, to liberalise we do not sit down to think through the how that should be done, and the impact that this has on transport and our own productivity and welfare of Nairobians. It benefits the big guys, who all seem to go for motorcades these days; with some having their body guards push us to the edges for their bosses to get out of the traffic jam. So what does it matter if people walk to work?  

Merry Christmas and Safe Travel!