Transport to the city’s suburbs a real challenge for commuters

Matatus on Tom Mboya Street, Nairobi. Traffic flow in the city has been moderated. Public transport to many of Nairobi's outskirts can be challenging. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • The regular fare is Sh80, but today the touts are charging Sh100.  After a few minutes of scrambling as passengers board the bus, we are ready to leave the city.

  • The bus is old and so stuffy inside that for a moment, I feel as if I am going to throw up.

  • At Kasarani, five kilometres  from Mwiki, the crew announces the end of the journey without fare refunds.

Public transport to many of Nairobi's outskirts can be challenging, but nothing quite compares to a trip on Kasarani-Mwiki route.  

I board a Mwiki Sacco Ltd bus outside Imenti House on Tom Mboya Street one evening, to experience the ride.

The bus is old and so stuffy inside that for a moment, I feel as if I am going to throw up. 

In the circumstances, all you can hope for is getting to your destination (in this case, Mwiki) in one piece.

SNAIL'S PACE

The regular fare is Sh80, but today the touts are charging Sh100. After a few minutes of scrambling as passengers board the bus, we are ready to leave the city.

Relief is written all over the passengers’ faces as the bus begins its journey. 

Along the way, the bus stops to pick up  more passengers, whom the touts pack like sardine along the aisle.

At  Survey on the Thika Superhighway, the traffic is moving at a snail’s pace. It is raining heavily outside so all the windows are closed!

For two hours, we sit through the din of vulgar hip-hop music blasting from huge  speakers, as sexually suggestive videos  show on the screens.

NO REFUNDS

It is pointless to negotiate with the crew, most of whom are semiliterate, cocky city lowlifes, to whom humiliating  passengers is great fun

At Kasarani, five kilometres  from Mwiki, the crew announces the end of the journey. Regular commuters say dropping passengers off before their destination, usually without fare refunds, is not uncommon  here.

From here, we take a motorbike. The charge for the  five-kilometre stretch is Sh200. I share  one with Leah Tarus, a city auditor with whom I struck a conversation in the bus.

“Nowadays we share motorbikes freely with strangers to halve the fare. It doesn’t feel awkward anymore,” she says as the motorbike roars towards Mwiki.

NIGHTMARE

Those who cannot afford Sh200, have to walk the rest of the way, says  Ms Tarus.

It has been particularly bad this rainy season.

For  commuters from Umoja estate and its neighbourhood, the greatest nightmare is getting caught in the traffic jam. There has been no improvement on the route, despite millions of shillings being injected on road expansion.

To avoid the jam, many of the residents leave home very early in the morning and leave town late at night.

OPPORTUNITIES

Mr James Maina, for instance, says if he doesn’t get a matatu before 6.30am when he’s going to town, he’s sure to get to work after 9 o’clock.

In many instances, the matatus drivers use alternative routes  through the estates,  only to get stuck in an even worse jam. 

“At the end of the day we end up losing dozens of opportunities while stuck on traffic,” says Mr Maina. “Sometimes you are forced to stay at your workplace past 8 o’clock in the evening simply to wait for the traffic to ease a little bit.”

From unruly motorists, arrogant touts, loud music, pot-holed roads to poor drainage, this Eastlands  route is thoroughly disorganised.

ROBBED

And with the current rains the situation has become worse,  leaving commuters deeply distressed and frustrated.

“The biggest challenge comes in the evening when it rains. You go to Ronald Ngala Street, only to find lengthy queues with no matatu in sight. You go  to Bus Station, where you find a  big crowd fighting to board one bus. You can even get robbed. It is so sickening, “says Flora Juma.

Last week, she left  work  at around 7.30pm hoping  to find a small crowd at the bus stop. She reached home past midnight.