Commuters happy with rail transport but fault high fares

He gave up on the railway a long time ago.

The train passes by Mlolongo too early for Mr Isaac Mulama on its one trip in the morning.

He has also heard it said that one is never too sure the engines will not stall in the middle of the journey, and so he places his faith in the matatus.

Like many, he is hardened and has become used to the chaotic public transport made worse in Nairobi by too many vehicles, all in too much of a hurry.

His hopes for a better transport system were however a little high following the launching on Tuesday of the new Syokimau Railway Station by President Kibaki.

But there is a little problem, he said. The fare, at Sh120 during peak hours, Sh110 off-peak and Sh100 for Nairobi Commuter Railway card holders, is rather prohibitive.

Mr Mulama told the Nation he normally pays Sh50 in the morning, when the traffic on the road is thickest, Sh40 when it gets a little thinner  and Sh30 when it flows steadily as the day wears on.

“Project ya train sio mbovu (The train project is not bad),” he said as he queued for a bite in the wananchi section of the grounds at the station soon after its opening.

The sentiment was the same among the ordinary citizens at the launch.

“The service itself is ok, but Sh100 is too expensive,” Mr Peter Waswa said. He goes job-hunting in the morning, waking up as early as 5am to pay Sh20 for the 15-minute drive into the city centre.

The jam on Mombasa Road is heaviest at the turn-off to City Cabanas, where the new Eastern Bypass joins it, at General Motors, where heavy trucks make u-turns, and at Nyayo Stadium, where traffic from Industrial Area and Lang’ata Road pours into the three-lane highway.

Mr Mulama will nevertheless use the train, he said, because there is no traffic jam on a railway line.

The heads of Rift Valley Railways and Kenya Railways Corporation in separate interviews, couldn’t agree more.

“People will do the maths over time,” said Mr Nduva Muli, managing director of Kenya Railways.

According to Mr Muli, motorists would be at a great advantage in using the train services from the station. He reckons it would cost an estimated Sh600 to fuel, park and pay for the wear and tear on a vehicle driving into the city centre.

It’s also about keeping the station and the line sustainable in order to provide service in the long-term, he added.

“There is a great risk of having low fares yet we can’t maintain the system,” he said.

Mr Muli and RVR executive chairman Brown Ondego told the Nation that the fares had been agreed between the interested parties and the amount was the fairest for both the owner of the infrastructure and the operator.

The railway extension and railway station, the first to be built in Kenya in the last 80 years, cost Sh400 million.
Mr Ondego said the fare “is lower than the cost of operating the train”.

“It’s pegged on current rates and matatu fares, which would be Sh70 or Sh80 in the morning.”

Mr Ondego argues that if you quantify the cost of sitting in the jam, the frustration of matatus cutting into the lane in front of you, or the fear of driving beside a truck-in-transit, the fare is worth it.

Each coach carries about 70 seated and 120 standing passengers. Assuming each has the NCR card and pays, Sh100, the minimum fare, each coach would have a revenue of Sh19,000 per trip.

According to an advertisement in the Daily Nation on Tuesday, there will be 10 trips per day. Motorists would also pay Sh300 — Sh200 for the two-way ticket and Sh100 for parking. (IN PICTURES: Syokimau railway station)

After commissioning the station and having lunch, President Kibaki and his entourage rode it to the Inland Container Depot at Embakasi.

After the President left, the train went back to the station. The NTV crew left for the city centre in their vehicles, while the Daily Nation reporter and photographer took the train in its inaugural 25-minute journey into Nairobi Railway Station.

Both crews arrived at the office at the same time. One had to bear the jam.