Joseph Murimi
21 March 2008
Nairobi — The Government has introduced a public bus shuttle service to operate within the city centre.
Local Government minister, Mr Uhuru Kenyatta, said the service would operate scheduled trips in the city centre initially at an interval of five minutes. The rides would start from Muthurwa Market.
Uhuru said the trip around the city centre would cost Sh20 and a special lane would be created for the buses to make the trip as short as possible.
He said parking spaces along the route would be used to create bus lanes. The marking of the special lane would be completed by Tuesday.
From Muthurwa, the bus will take the Haile Selassie Avenue through the Railway Station terminus up to National Library Services in Upper Hill. It will then join Kenyatta Avenue, Moi Avenue and Murang'a Road to the Globe Cinema terminus.
The bus will then take Tom Mboya Street back to Haile Selassie Avenue and eventually to Muthurwa Market.
"The buses will be clearly marked to make them easily identifiable," said Uhuru.
He said the measure was one of many that the Local Government would use to manage traffic in the city.
Uhuru put private motorists on notice, saying they would be targeted in the new drive to limit the number of vehicles accessing the city centre.
He directed City Hall to review its parking charges as a way of encouraging motorists to use public transport.
Uhuru said the shuttle service was only a temporary measure. In the long term, a Bus Rapid Transport System that would be more efficient would be set up.
He said a committee was working on the details of how the shuttles would operate, including the size of buses and their schedules.
In the meantime, Uhuru said, the three main bus companies - Citi Hoppa, Double M and Kenya Bus Service - had been asked to agree on one among them that would offer the services until tendering was done.
Uhuru was speaking at his Jogoo House office when he met players in the transport business.
Uhuru apologised to commuters from Eastlands who were inconvenienced by the abrupt measure to shift the bus termini to Muthurwa market. He also thanked hawkers for agreeing to relocate to the new market.
Uhuru said plans were underway to build more markets, starting with a major one in Westlands.
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