No,not going to do do it! Matatu operators have reiterated they will not move out of Nairobi’s Central Business District (CBD) as was ordered by the county government, thus setting stage for a major confrontation between police and the operators.
The matatu owners told off City Hall over the ban, which is expected to take effect on Monday, December 3, claiming the newly designated terminus were not anywhere near enough to accommodate all of them.
The public service vehicle (PSV) owners further warned the ban would completely paralyse transport within the capital city and that commuters, especially those going to work, would suffer more.
“The ban will not work. The county government was not prepared for it. The current capacity at the said terminus, like Muthurwa, cannot accommodate all the vehicles expected to operate from there,” Matatu Owners Association (MOA) chairman, Simon Kimutai, said on Saturday.
The ban, he added, would only cause unnecessary chaos and disorder in the city as the PSV operators would be forced to battle for parking space at the newly designated terminus. According to the MOA boss, there are well over 20,000 PSVs operating within the city and about the same number of long distance vehicle entering the city from upcountry.
He said each of the existing terminus outside the CBD were also full to and cannot accommodate more than 50 vehicles additional.
The ban of Matatu to the CBD will not solve Nairobi’s jam, drawing of Yellow lines, put drums neither is the solution, all big cities around the world has a light tram system, that will make private cars not to access CBD Ngong-dagoretti- gong rd-CBD easy machakos-westy
— Ibn Kidunduhu Babu (@KidunduhuA) November 29, 2018
The matatu owners also cited insecurity and poor state of the terminus outside the CBD as the other reasons why they would not comply with the City Hall’s directive. They insisted the county government must meet their standards before they can exit the city centre.
The county government had days earlier issued a statement ordering the matatu operators to relocate to their newly assigned terminus and routes. City Hall had created 11 new PSVs termini outside the CBD and scraped the old pick up points and stages through the gazette notice of May 12, 2017.
According to a gazette notice dated Thursday, November 29, all routes accessing the CBD from Waiyaki, Uhuru Highway, Limuru and Kipande roads will use Fig Tree Market terminus as well as PSVs plying Thika, Kiambu and Ruiru roads. Passengers accessing town via urban routes from Mombasa and Lang’ata roads will be picked and dropped at Hakati road whereas vehicles from Jogoo or Lusaka roads terminate at Muthurwa terminus.
Matatu CBD Ban is not well thought out. @KenyanTraffic pic.twitter.com/X9m80Y2upb
— Rein (@Asamoh_) November 30, 2018