HIKING OF COMMUTER FARES
Budgeting for fare in Nairobi can
be quite a challenge. Usually a city resident
will always have to factor in fluctuations in commuter fares. In Nairobi one can never
be sure whether what they paid in the morning going to work is the same fare they
will pay coming back home.
Commuter fares in Nairobi change,
depending on what is happening or even how the whether changes. Yeah!! Just like the users, the transport
system also adjusts to the prevailing weather patterns. For example, as rain is
a relieve from dust for the commuters so is it for the transport sector to make
more money. Commuters are supposed to be
happy when it rains because of the dust they may have been inhaling; “right” but
in turn it is more painful for them because to matatu transport a drop of rain
is a booming business for them.
Fare hiking in Nairobi is very
common and the people who are left to suffer are the passengers because they
have no choice but to reach their intended destinations.
Therefore with such unpredictability commuters have to adjust to this
fiasco.
At times you will not understand
what rain does to matatu transport because unexpected drizzle in the evening
changes the usual operations in the city. When it rains in Nairobi be sure that commuter
fares are going to hike like crazy and to add into that traffic jam becomes
terrible. As hawkers make unusual profits through selling umbrellas to people
more especially ladies, the matatu operators celebrate and hike commuter fares
as passengers scramble to board the exiting matatu before a heavier downfall.
Funny enough, the more and
heavier the drops of rain the higher the fare, that is why if by the time you
reach the stage and find that the fare has gone up by may be KES:20 be sure
that in the next thirty minutes it will be three or four times that. Since not everyone can afford the luxury, some
people will usually opt to stay put at the termini till the fares decrease even
if it is late hours while others endure the down pour and walk home.
Sometimes one may wonder how it
is the commuters’ fault when there is police inspection. Police inspections to
matatu cause a lot of mayhem on the roads.
Because this time again the commuter will have to chew the bitter pill
due to the unending tussle between matatu operators and the police. On this day the matatu operators avoid going
to the road because most of them are not compliant with traffic rules and
regulations. The ones that remain on the
road are quite few and it is usually such a nightmare for the commuter. Despite hiking commuter fares they may not
even reach the city leaving passengers on the way to avoid an encounter with
the police. The passengers are left
stranded and at times forced to walk long distances to reach their places of
work and other destinations. It is high time the transport system in kenya did some adjustments.
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