Buses vs. Matatus Redux

My last post about buses vs. matatu's got some guys going about the cost of buying those articulated buses vs. cost of a matatu. I do not know why everyone thinks that matatu's are cheaper to operate just because you buy them cheaper than a bus. I just found out that a new articulated bus costs about $500,000 (Ksh. 32.5m). That's a (edit) high price. If you find the price prohibitive then let me propose a way out where one can share the cost.

Let a public transport company for Nairobi metro (Nairobi and its surroundings i.e. Thika, Kiambu, Muranga, Athi River, Ngong, etc) be set up. The company should have shareholding in the following percentages:

Government - 20%
Nairobi City Council - 20%
Matatu Owners / Operaters - 45%
Public (floated in the Nairobi Stock Exchange) - 15%

The Government can even reduce its shareholding and those added to the matatu operators and the public. I am sure the company would be able to raise the capital to buy the buses and get rid of all the small 14seater minibuses. The main reason for having the City Council as part of the ownership structure is that they could at some point build extra lanes for these buses to operate on, thus avoiding any traffic jams like they have done in Curitiba, Brazil. This link has some interesting facts about how the city coped with their rapid population growth.


Now looking at the radial Curitiba transport pattern one cannot fail to see the resemblance of the transport pattern what Kenya Bus Service used to have them days. Presently the matatu's have split their operations along the former KBS routes into two. Where previously you would take one bus form Eastlands to Westlands, today you have to take two or even three. All the matatu's end their service at the city centre thus congesting it. Before, KBS used to pass through the city and only stopped at bus station to change the crew at around 1200-1300hrs. This is something that Uhuru Kenyatta should ponder about. He would decongest the city centre simply by ordering the matatu's to travel the WHOLE old KBS routes.

If Uhuru wants to keep his Muthurwa-market-bus-stop-model, then he has to do it to all public transport businesses coming into the city centre and not only those who serve Eastlands (apart from metro and companies). That will mean keeping the city free of traffic and if he really wants the CBD decongested, he should extend it to affect private cars.

By the way have you guys seen the double decker bus on the 58 route...maybe we should get all those decommissioned double deckers from England over here to help us cope with our transport issues.