Seven firms resume night travel

Seven bus companies have been allowed to resume night passenger transport after they attained the compliance levels for public service vehicles.

Modern Coast, Mash, Guardian, Easy Coach, North Rift, Transline and Eldoret Sacco have complied with the regulations on night travel set out by the National Transport Authority in March.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau said these were also the major bus companies that operated at night.

“A total of 338 vehicles belonging to these companies have been licensed to operate between 9pm and 6am. The National Transport Safety Authority has issued a special licence to these compliant companies and the details of their buses have been issue to the police,” he said at a press conference.

Mr Kamau said these companies were now free to operate at night, but warned that those flouting the set rules will be penalised.

“Any one operating at night without a night time license shall have their day time licences revoked,” the CS said at his Transcom House office in Nairobi.

To be certified, bus companies are required to have their drivers approved for night driving by the NTSA, operate a fleet management system and operate a mutual aid assistance system in case of an accident. The bus companies must employ two drivers issued with the night travel licence.

Accidents

Mr Kamau, who was flanked by officials of NTSA, said the travel ban was necessary because most fatal accidents occurred at night.

“From our data, the most tragic accidents occur at night. Now road traffic fatalities have declined by 20 per cent while PSV passenger fatalities are down by 49 per cent,” said the CS.

“As at May 31, this year, a total of 1,113 deaths were recorded against 1,387 over the first five months last year. This was a 20 per cent drop and a remarkable achievement in our road safety interventions,” he added.

But it is the increase in fatalities of pedestrians, motorcyclists and their passengers and commercial trucks that remains a challenge to officials.

To improve help improve the security and service of PSVs, a cashless system of paying fare – where passengers pay up using a secure, chip-based card — is set to be rolled out from the July 1 deadline for public service vehicles to stop accepting cash as fare.

This is another milestone for public service transportation in the capital. In the digital system, commuters would get debit cards, which they load with cash and use to pay for their fare. They in turn get a receipt indicating the registration number of the matatu, time of payment and the conductor’s name.

“It is expected that the cashless system will be rolled out for all PSV operators to manage their revenues. Passengers will also be protected against erratic and unexpected fare increases,” said Mr Kamau.

Already, Kenya Commercial Bank has partnered with Kenya Bus Service to unveil a cashless payment debit card dubbed Abiria Card. The MasterCard also allows commuters to use other banking services in KCB.