Safe Motos install an app that records their speed, acceleration, GPS and gyroscope information which is then fed back to servers that analyse the raw data and come up with an overall safety score such that only the best boda boda drivers get connected to customers.
For the riders to start using the application, they have to undergo training sponsored by the service provider, who demands that their clients must must be discipined on the roads and also observe personal cleanliness and etiquette.
The application makes it impossible for a rider to carry more than one passenger because its impossible for them to accept two requests at a go, and the company can also monitor them, including their locations.
All traffic police sections across the country have set aside yards where wreckage of motorcycles involved in accidents are stored, while some hospitals have set up special wards for victims of accidents involving the machines.
Each day, accidents are reported involving the motorcycle taxis or boda bodas, which have become a preferred mode of transport for many due to its ease of availability and affordability.
Because business is brisk, they are now a major source of employment, especially for the youth.
As per last year, data from the Motorcycle Assembly Association of Kenya showed that the business generated an estimated Sh400 million daily and directly and indirectly employs over 500,000 Kenyans and some 14.4 million people use this mode of transport every day.
In 2014, boda boda operators and other motorcyclists contributed close to Sh2.2 billion to the Exchequer, therefore making it an economic pillar.
However, it has become a graveyard for the riders and their customers, and today there are many people walking with the help of crutches after boda boda acciden-ts while others are bedridden.
The sector has been associated with vices such as blatant flouting of safety rules and even of facilitating criminals who use them to ride to and escape from scenes of crime.
Boda boda rider in Kenya operate in a lawless and chaotic manner, with blatant disregard for traffic rules and regulations, including ferrying more than one passenger and failure to use helmets and reflector jackets.
Concerned, the National Transport and Safety Authority Act (NTSA) and other Government agencies introduced rules governing the industry.
NTSA demands incude insurance covers, observing all traffic rules, limiting the amount of cargo carried, using protective gear like helmets and that operators belong to sacco societies.
But change is slow in coming, with statistics showing that close to 100,000 bikes may be out of the road due to accidents and breakage which have been blamed on lawlessness by the riders.
In Kenya, it is easy to see boda boda riders carrying four passengers at a go and without protective gear for themselves or their passengers and carrying excess cargo which sometimes include cattle and pigs, perhaps oblivious of risks they are exposing themselves to.
Apart from ignoring traffic rules, some of the riders have been accused of promoting criminal activities, hooliganism, and mostly taking the law into their own hands, especially when they are involved in confrontations with motorists.
For instance, in 2015, boda bodas from Kiganjo in Thika Town, Kiambu County, were accused of lynching a lorry driver after he accidentally hit a motorcycle that was parked on the road.
Witnesses said Edward Ng’ang’a, 43, was driving from their home in Kiganjo to Makongeni where he used to parked his lorry when he was attacked by the riders who beat him to death.
According to the deceased’s widow Ms Jane Wangari, the riders had parked their motorcycles on the road at a corner which made it hard for Ng’ang’a to navigate, and his efforts to plead with them to remove them to pave the way were futile.
“As he was trying to navigate the corner, he accidentally hit one of the motorbikes angering the operators who blocked his way and started to beat him while others slashed him with machetes, causing him serious injuries on the head,” Ms Wangari said.
In April last year, angry boda boda riders set on fire a public service vehicle (commonly called matatu) which operated along the Thika Super highway after it knocked down one of them.
On February 4, 2017, another matatu belonging to Ongata Line Sacco, and which plied the city centre and Ongata Rongai was set on fire by boda boda operators after it knocked down and killed one of their colleagues in an incident that saw 23 riders arrested.
Police spokesman George Kinoti condemned the riders engaging in hooliganism, saying “people must let police conduct investigations”.
“We have noted with grave concern that some boda boda riders have developed a tendency of quickly mobilising their members whenever an incident involving one of them happens and then proceed to harass members of the public or even destroy property like the incident in Nairobi.
“We wish to warn that this manner of hooliganism, disregarding traffic laws as well as other penal code laws will not be tolerated,” the police spokesman said.
Other than criminal activities, the riders are also used by politicians during electioneering periods to wreak havoc through hooliganism with a view to showing their popularity or to intimidate opponents.
But all is not lost. Some sector players are trying to change this image through a campaign for self-regulation.
Though the campaign has started in Kiambu County, its leaders intend to gradually roll it out across the country to ensure it impacts all riders.
Already, through the initiative, officials of boda boda riders in Kiambaa sub-county have made a bench-marking trip to Rwanda to learn best boda boda operation practices from their counterparts in that neighbouring country who are credited for orderliness.
The officials went on a five-day tour of Kigali, where they interacted with their peers in Rwanda, the Kigali City Council inspectorate department and other relevant stakeholders.
The tour saw the beneficiaries get exposure as far as boda boda business in Rwanda is concerned, learn how its operated, knowledge which they are expected to pass on to their local colleagues.
Boda bodas in Rwanda are locally referred to as moto-moto and the riders as abamotari. Unlike their Kenyan counterparts, the riders are known for discipline and orderliness and for strict observance of traffic rules, even without the presence of police officers.
“In Rwanda, they (boda boda riders) obey all the traffic rules and signs such that they insist on their clients using reflector jackets and helmets. And so, I thought it’s a good idea (to have the programme), so that they do peer learning,” said Mr Karanja Thariki, who is behind the initiative.
Mr Karanja said the programme dubbed “peace, safety and security campaign” will be annual, whereby selected boda boda operators will be visiting Kigali, adding that he intends to use his networks with non-governmental organisations to source for funding from donors.
Locally, he said they will have a programme for the trips’ beneficiaries to pass the knowledge they have acquired to their counterparts with a view to “sanitising” the sector.
Following the trip, they partnered with an investor who will be visiting in the country regularly to train them on how to use a mobile application dubbed “Safe Moto” which will help them operate their boda bodas through a platform similar to Uber Taxi solution.
Already, Safe Moto representative have visited the country and held meetings with boda boda riders with a view to launching the application which is expected to streamline the sector.
Mr Saikaskar Pogaru and Anshul Singhania who are Safe Moto’s market expansion consultant based in Kigali, have so far met boda boda riders’ officials in Kiambu for training on how to use the application, and are reportedly working on logistics that will see the riders start using the solution immediately.
The application allows local customers to call for a boda boda at the convenience of their location by just tapping on their phones to instruct the app where they want to be picked up from, indicate the destination and then choose a star rating for the quality of a driver, hence separating good drivers from indisciplined ones.
Mr Pogaru said the application, which is common in Rwanda, not only focuses on customer safety, but also that of the rider who can be tracked using the technology. He said they utilise smart phone sensors to monitor the riders.
Safe Motos install an app that records their speed, acceleration, GPS and gyroscope information which is then fed back to servers that analyse the raw data and come up with an overall safety score such that only the best boda boda drivers get connected to customers.
For the riders to start using the application, they have to undergo training sponsored by the service provider, who demands that their clients must must be discipined on the roads and also observe personal cleanliness and etiquette.
The application makes it impossible for a rider to carry more than one passenger because its impossible for them to accept two requests at a go, and the company can also monitor them, including their locations.
“With the application, flouting the set rules will be impossible since we can monitor the riders’ conduct. We also have a provision to rate the riders which act as incentive to ensure they operate with the utmost discipline,” Mr Pogaru said, adding that they would also work with boda boda saccos.
Mr Julius Njoroge who is the chairman of Ndenderu-Ruaka Boda boda Sacco said the programme was timely, saying it would help the riders acquire a self-regulation and safety culture, which is what most of them lack.
Mr Njoroge who is one of those who toured Rwanda said the sector would earn more respect if local riders adopted the strategy.
Mr Boniface Gitobo, the chairman of Cianda Boda boda association in Kiambu said they were happy with the application, though they are yet to start using it, saying it would help instill discipline since those who fail to observe rules will be disqualified.
The application will also allow the riders to expand their business by reaching untapped markets, especially the middle and upper class that refused to use their services because of the disorder.
The application also sets the prices according to distance. The riders will have to be honest with their clients because with just a tap on the phone, it will be easy to get their locations and for the riders, security has been improved since it will be easy to trace a passenger who used their services.
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