Residents of Nairobi planning to travel to the village for the Christmas and New Year festivities are struggling to find buses.
Most regular buses plying the Nairobi upcountry route have already been booked to capacity up to December 27.
“I had been trying to get a bus that would take me to Migori on December 19. I tried to make calls but was told all the buses travelling from Nairobi to Migori had been fully booked – until December 27,” said Vincent Mose, a university student in Nairobi.
An official from Easy Coach Bus service, Fred Odoyo, said that most of their buses plying the Nairobi to upcountry routes like Migori had been fully booked from early in the month of December.
“It’s true that buses are filling up. The only available space for those travelling from Nairobi is from December 27,” he said.
Meanwhile, some travelers are already complaining about increased bus fares – as some transporters are looking to take advantage of the rising demand.
“I managed to get a Nissan shuttle from Nairobi to Migori and I paid Ksh2,000 instead of the usual; Ksh1,700. I have a feeling the prices will go even higher from this coming weekend,” said Mose who travelled on December 19.
There is some concern from some of the travelers that unscrupulous motorist could take advantage of the rising demand to introduce into the roads unroadworthy vehicles – which could lead to accidents.
“The upcountry routes are long and need drivers with experience on such long stretches. These are not roads for city matatu drivers to play on,” said Caleb Mzee, a resident of Nairobi.
“It is time the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) remained hawkeyed to ensure unroadworthy vehicles are removed from the roads during this festive season,” he said.
A recent report released by the CS Transport Murkomen showed that 3,999 people have died as a result of road accidents from January 1 to December 7, 2023. The report attributed 70pc of the accidents to private vehicles with public service vehicles accounting for 40pc of the accidents.
