Nairobi — Many travellers heading to their rural homes for this year's Christmas festivities were left stranded in Eldoret Town due to lack of vehicles.

The bus terminus was a beehive of activity as commuters jostled for available seats in public service vehicles.

The situation was worse for those who had children as they could not scramble for seats with ease and most of them had to pay touts to secure seats for their families.

However, it was a reprieve for those travelling to Nairobi as the fares remained constant because of what matatu operators described as "low demand."

Some operators even left for Nairobi with some seats unoccupied.

"It's not a loss driving to Nairobi without passengers as we shall fill the gap by raising fares," said Mr Jonathan Too, one of the drivers plying the route.

He said it was a booming business for matatu operators as passengers travelling from Nairobi to Eldoret had to part with Sh1,000 up from Sh500.

Some operators were even charging Sh1,200, he said.

The matatu operators also claimed that traffic police officers had taken advantage of the situation to extort more bribes from them.

"We usually part with between Sh50 and Sh100 at road blocks, but some of the officers are now asking for as much as Sh1,000," said one of the drivers plying the Eldoret-Nairobi route.

Travellers who arrived from Nairobi and Mombasa said they were at the matatu termini from as early as four in the morning to avoid traffic jams and to catch the first vehicles.

However, the commuters complained that the matatu operators were exploiting them.

They appealed to the government to regulate fares and check on unscrupulous oil dealers who were liaising with matatu operators to cause a fuel shortage in order to raise pump prices.