Starting December 1st, Nairobi Metropolitan Services will roll out an ambitious plan of banning all the matatus operating within the CBD.
PSV operating on major routes leading to the CBD will terminate the trips at the Green Park and Desai road terminals according to Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS).
The plan to decongest Nairobi City by moving the bus terminal outside the CBD has been met with sharp criticism from the matatu and bodaboda stakeholders who say they will not flinch.
NMS Director-General Mohammed Badi wants matatus plying Thika Road to offload passengers in a new bus station at Ngara and Parklands, while those from Machakos and Lang’ata road will terminate their journeys at a yet to the built stage at Railway Club.
Works are ongoing at the green park bus terminal. The Nairobi Metropolitan services busy at work to ensure that by 1st December PSV plying Ngong and Lang’ata roads will terminate their journeys there.
At the Desai road terminus in Ngara work is almost complete. Once completed the terminal will serve Matatus from Waiyaki way, Uhuru highway, Kipande, and Limuru road.
PSVs from Mombasa will terminate at another new terminal at the junction of Bunyala and workshop road, which is still under construction. The Muthurwa terminus is expected to remain as it serves PSV from Jogoo and Lusaka road.
In the past, magnificent plans to rid the city center of matatus were floated by leaders but all remained just that plans. The city leaders ended up leaving their posts before actualizing their plans.
President Uhuru Kenyatta, when he was the Minister for Local Government in 2008, tried in vain to decongest the city center by banning all buses and matatus from its street. The matatus came up with ingenious ways of accessing the city center and life continues.
Enter Governor Evans Kidero from the corporate world 2013. The matatu lived out his five years tenure on the streets of Nairobi. Dr. Kidero formed a task force incorporating different stakeholders in that transport sector in 2015.
Governor Mike Sonko said he would kick out matatus from the city center. A month later, he suspended the plans for a month to allow the industry to self-regulate as the two parties looked for a permanent solution to the traffic problem.
Concerns are now on whether terminals such as Muthurwa one-known for its insecurity and traffic snarl-ups will be maintained by the county government as nothing has been done at the moment.