Technological evolution in the transport sector has
been linked with the phrases of economic development of the world. One of the pitfalls in discussing future
trends resides at looking at the future as an extrapolation of the past. A few years ago matatus (public service
vehicles) with a screen playing music videos of different genres were seen as
very trendy and fashionable and passengers always preferred to board them and
be part of the movement. As technology is
constantly changing, public service vehicles have moved a notch higher from
just having screens to being fitted with state of the art speakers, Wi-Fi
servers and most recently CCTV(Closed Circuit Television) cameras and GPS
(Global Positioning System) trackers.
A year ago transport stakeholders agreed that
checking of luggage and CCTV cameras should be considered. The move was tailored to beef up security
hence reduce the increasing cases of pickpockets and carjacking. This was so in the sense that it will help
monitor passenger behavior and assist the police arrest criminals, but since
then not many of them have adhered to the directive. The issue has come up
again as a result of several terror attacks in the country and more especially
the twin attack that occurred along thika road in two commuter buses.
Efforts by
Stakeholders
In a city where all manner of things happen it is
important for matatu owners to offer their customers more than just a trip to
their destinations, they should make sure that the passengers have arrived well.
Some matatu operators may say that they check
people’s luggage as they board a matatu but just checking the luggage is not
enough because more passengers are picked on the way as others alight. It is evident that checking of luggage is
only done at the bus terminus, therefore if a criminal intends to attack he
will not be at the bus terminus but along the way where he knows no one will
bother checking him. He then boards the matatu and alights at the next stage
leaving the device in the matatu to harm other innocent commuters. Checking commuters at the terminus may only
work for matatus that do not stop on the way to pick passengers. That is why
both luggage checking and CCTV cameras are important.
Nowadays commuters are a bit cautious as they fear
for their safety and therefore they would prefer to board matatus that they
know are fitted with CCTV cameras. Among
the matatus that have CCTV cameras include some matatus plying Ongata Rongai
route e.g. Fergie, Matatus plying routes on the Thika Superhighway, some
Buruburu matatus among others.
Besides the cameras, the owners suggest that the
front seat should be out of bound from passengers, in the sense that only
people working with them can sit there. This is because in cases of carjacking,
robbers often start by threatening the driver before forcing them into a
different direction.
As one may term the move as being in accordance
with government’s plan to make Kenya a digital nation, we all agree that it is
important to go with the pace of the changing trend in technology. Some matatu owners have gone ahead and
installed GPS trackers to be able to know where their vehicle are at every
particular moment.
It is thus likely that future transport systems
will be the outcome of private initiatives with the market, the ultimate judge
about the true potential of a new transport technology. Therefore, it is
entirely upon the stakeholders in the transport sector to see that technology
is embraced.
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