City Shuttle introduces high-capacity buses in Nairobi

Nairobi commuters on select routes will soon have the option on travelling in double-decker buses and other high capacity passenger service vehicles.

Matatu operator City Shuttle Friday unveiled Isuzu buses with a capacity of 100 commuters to initially ply route to Kikuyu, Embakasi and Ruai.

The government, meanwhile, plans to pass laws covering these vehicles before Christmas this year as part of measures to ease congestion in the capital.

Transport secretary Michael Kamau said Friday he is keen to revive use of high capacity buses to reduce snarl-ups in the city centre after the collapse of the Kenya Bus service, which included double-decker buses. He said he will gazette regulations to encourage more operators to take them up.

“I am going to gazette the rules before Christmas to facilitate use of these vehicles,” he said during the launch in Nairobi.

The design of the high capacity buses, which promise a new market for local vehicle assemblers, has been approved by the Kenya Bureau of Standards and the Ministry of Transport.

The units unveiled Friday were assembled by General Motors East Africa.

City Shuttle CEO Martin Karuga said his firm has placed an order for 13 more double-deckers and 10 high-capacity buses from South Africa and the UK and are expected them to arrive in the country next month.

The buses will carry 60 seated commuters and up to 40 standing ones.

Arrival of the new units will see the operator spread to other routes including Ngong Road, Eastlands, Limuru and Thika.

Nairobi’s transport system has for years grappled with incessant traffic as a result of congestion that has resulted in man-hour loss and fuel wastage.

The government is now racing to reduce congestion by revamping railway transport as well as expanding roads for a mass rapid transit system.

The event also witnessed the launch of a cashless commuter tag by Co-op Bank dubbed M-Nauli which can be embedded on the phone or wallet or book or any other surface. 

Customers will tap on a near field communication (NFC) enabled device in the matatu to pay fare and get a receipt. They can top up at Co-op agents or bank branches, or use mobile money services like M-Pesa or Airtel Money.

Co-op Bank has joined a growing list of banks that have ventured into multi-billion-shilling matatu industry with launch of the cash-lite fare.

This is in line with the government directive to have all public passenger vehicles migrate to a cashless regime expected to arrest graft on the road, improve tax revenue collection and boost efficiency.