upepo
Elder Lister
It is a common observation that matatu crews, their owners, and the vehicles always seem to be struggling on the brink, even in situations where you would imagine that at least one aspect should be well set. It is not unusual to encounter a weather-beaten vehicle, whose owner cannot afford proper maintenance, charging lucrative fares for a fairly short distance, but the crew seems to be thoroughly disheveled, meaning they too cannot make enough money. As a result, the matatu industry assumes a chaotic character, where all stakeholders seem preoccupied on survival rather than thriving. Many attempts have been made in the past to streamline the matatu sector without much success. Essentially, this failure stems from the fact that there is a powerful clique of people who earn their keep by maintaining this chaos. Take for instance the issue of passenger pick-up and drop-off points, or bus stages as we commonly know them. For the longest time, matatus have insisted on creating bus stages on what should be busy roads, even when doing so is clearly against city by-laws and common sense. Often, they will cite the lack of adequate space in the designated stages, which is sometimes true but other times untrue.
Usually, most Saccos will avoid the designated bus stages out of the fear of losing business to saccos that operate in locations outside the bus stages. This means that it is impossible to keep some saccos in the designated bus stages while leaving others outside. On the issue of space, it is somewhat true that the holding capacity of the available bus stages is not adequate to meet the existing needs. However, even if this were the case, would it not be better to transfer the stages from busy roads to the numerous back-streets that litter the city? Would this not help keep the main roads open while distributing matatu traffic more evenly across the city? And maybe make the city safer by displacing the vices that lark in the backstreets? Well, this common-sense solution cannot be implemented. Why? Because the matatu saccos pay millions in bribes yearly to maintain their spots on busy roads. When these payments delay, you will suddenly hear of campaigns to shift certain vehicles to the bus stages. We recently had one such case with the Kenya Mpya buses when the largest stakeholder, Neo Kenya, declined to contribute to the 4-million kitty set aside for city hall fat cats. The vehicles had to shift base from the ‘rented’ backstreet to the main bus station.
Surprisingly, even those that prefer to pick passengers from back streets still have to buy those spots from city hall officials, in addition to paying the legal county rates. All these expenses, when summed up with amounts spent on traffic police, add up to substantial overheads. Actually, matatus spend more on ‘facilitation fees’ than they spend on salaries. These expenses, in their totality, are passed on to fare-paying passengers. This is the reason travelers pay exorbitant fares yet no stakeholder seems to be benefiting from the supposed lucrative income. This reality could explain the attractiveness of the matatu industry on paper, and its repulsion in reality. In effect, if the industry were to be streamlined today, hundreds of investors would show up to provide quality passenger transport services. In conclusion, anyone who defends this government is benefiting from its weaknesses.
Usually, most Saccos will avoid the designated bus stages out of the fear of losing business to saccos that operate in locations outside the bus stages. This means that it is impossible to keep some saccos in the designated bus stages while leaving others outside. On the issue of space, it is somewhat true that the holding capacity of the available bus stages is not adequate to meet the existing needs. However, even if this were the case, would it not be better to transfer the stages from busy roads to the numerous back-streets that litter the city? Would this not help keep the main roads open while distributing matatu traffic more evenly across the city? And maybe make the city safer by displacing the vices that lark in the backstreets? Well, this common-sense solution cannot be implemented. Why? Because the matatu saccos pay millions in bribes yearly to maintain their spots on busy roads. When these payments delay, you will suddenly hear of campaigns to shift certain vehicles to the bus stages. We recently had one such case with the Kenya Mpya buses when the largest stakeholder, Neo Kenya, declined to contribute to the 4-million kitty set aside for city hall fat cats. The vehicles had to shift base from the ‘rented’ backstreet to the main bus station.
Surprisingly, even those that prefer to pick passengers from back streets still have to buy those spots from city hall officials, in addition to paying the legal county rates. All these expenses, when summed up with amounts spent on traffic police, add up to substantial overheads. Actually, matatus spend more on ‘facilitation fees’ than they spend on salaries. These expenses, in their totality, are passed on to fare-paying passengers. This is the reason travelers pay exorbitant fares yet no stakeholder seems to be benefiting from the supposed lucrative income. This reality could explain the attractiveness of the matatu industry on paper, and its repulsion in reality. In effect, if the industry were to be streamlined today, hundreds of investors would show up to provide quality passenger transport services. In conclusion, anyone who defends this government is benefiting from its weaknesses.
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