Battle looms over new plan to restrict matatus into Nairobi city centre

A fresh confrontation between public service operators and City Hall will be in the offing Monday as the council begins its plan of keeping long-distance matatus out of the Central Business District.

Fourteen-seater matatus, the city’s new prescription for decongestion states, will be confined to the Railways terminus, Muthurwa, Westlands stage and Kariokor.

Even those that have been operating from the vacant Central Bus Station will be moved to pave way for three bus companies that have access to the city centre- Double M, City Hoppa and KBS.

The new rules were announced in an advertisement on August 10.

Matatus from Kisii and Bomet will terminate their journeys at the Westlands stage while those from Thika will drop and pick passengers at Kariokor.

A matatu drivers and conductors lobby group has said it will rally operators to defy the rules on the basis that the existing parks are too small and the move will result in more congestion on the major corridors into the city.

The Matatu Drivers and Conductors Welfare Association (MADCOWA) said at a press conference on Sunday thatthe result of the relocation is likely to be an increase in extortion by the police and council askaris enforcing the new rules.

According to the association, the idea is also likely to fail in the same way the one behind the construction of the Muthurwa Terminus did.
“What you will see at Kariokor and Westlands will be worse than what was witnessed at Muthurwa. The council and the Nairobi Metropolitan ministry should build the bus parks before they relocate matatus,” said Madcowa chairman Samson Wakabu.

Muthurwa was constructed in 2007 in what was then billed as a brilliant idea to keep matatus from Eastlands out of the city centre.

A failure to properly enforce the rules and maintain the terminus, which is also a hawkers’ market, has often been the cause of chaos and peak hour jams on Jogoo Road.

The initial roads that were to serve as entry and exit lanes were eventually abandoned and the matatus now pass through Muthurwa Estate.

Last week, city engineer Stephen Mburu said the relocation idea would reduce travel time and ease congestion in the city.

“It does not make any sense to travel for four hours from Kisii to Westlands and then spend an hour from Westlands to the city centre,” said city engineer Stephen Mburu.

It takes 25 minutes to reach the city centre from Kariokor while it takes 45 minutes to travel from Thika to Kariokor, about a kilometre and a half from the city centre.

This means those using these routes will have to board other vehicles to get to the city centre.

Matatu Welfare Association chairman Dickson Mbugua said the council 'appears not be learning from the current situation.’

“Decongestion cannot be wished away but the authorities need to look at all perspectives and have a strategic plan before they start implementing any ideas they think will help,” said Mr Mbugua.

He said both Westlands and Kariokor stages are not enough for holding grounds for the matatus as they await their turn to ferry passengers.

Plans to decongest Nairobi have been complicated by the poor relationship between the council and the Nairobi Metropolitan ministry.

Both MADCOWA and MWA said the two government agencies should work together to come up with a proper solution to Nairobi’s poor transport sector.

MADCOWA said the development of the 'park and ride’ concept would help to reduce the number of vehicles on the capital’s roads.
Under the concept, car parks would be developed off major corridors into the city centre where private motorists park their vehicles and board buses using special jam-free lanes into the city.

At Kariokor and Westlands, the people who currently man the parks said they are already too small. Joseph Mungai, an organiser for route 48 matatus, told the Nation the park is already too small for the 50 vehicles already there.

The park at Kariokor is currently used by stall owners and customers and also appears incapable of holding the estimated 300 matatus plying the Thika route.

George Ngugi, a car wash attendant at Kariokor, said the park is usually full on week days and the washers have as a result been pushed to the nearby roundabout, from which they operate, albeit illegally.

Mr Mbugua proposed the acquisition of the entire Muthurwa estate for the construction of a mega bus park that would accommodate most Public Service Vehicles.