Chaotic scenes were witnessed at public transport offices as hundreds of stranded travellers scrambled for tickets following a ban on night travel by public transport vehicles.
There were heated exchanges at Nairobi's Easy Coach Ltd office as passengers demanded refunds after spending hours at the premises with no sign of travelling.
The bus company managers had a hard time calming down travellers, the majority of them students reporting back to school. The travellers wanted no less than their money back or alternative means of transport.
Some of the passengers who had camped at the company’s booking office located at the Kenya Railways yard claimed they were in town as early as 4am with an assurance that they would be on the road by 8:30am.
But by 11am, there was no clear communication from the management about when or if they would be travelling, prompting protests from the would-be passengers.
Not even the convincing and remorseful tone of the manager, Thomas Ombati, could calm them down as they roughed up security guards who tried to block their forceful entry into his office.
In Kakamega town, angry travellers attacked the staff of Western Express Coach bus company.
Chaos erupted when the passengers were told the bus would not be leaving until the next morning due to the ban on night movement.
Travellers, mainly parents taking their children back to school, and city dwellers on their way back to Nairobi, punched the workers during the Tuesday evening incident.
Quick intervention
Only quick intervention by police saved the staff.
James Omondi, a Nairobi banker who was scheduled to travel yesterday, said he lost Sh20,000 at the Kakamega bus terminus where he has been stranded.
Mr Omondi said part of the money was school fees for his daughter.
Elsewhere, passengers spent a cold night at Chuka Police Station in Tharaka Nithi County after the vehicles were impounded by police.
In Nakuru, Joseph Kariuki, the Nakuru 4NTE station manager, said the ban had become a nightmare and was likely to subject school children to danger if they had to spend the night at the bus terminus alone.
The transport operators at the Nakuru bus stage resolved to revert student fares back to normal and organised for matatus to carry only students.
Central Rift Matatu Owners Association Stephen Muli called on the Government to lift the ban, saying it had greatly disrupted many sectors of the economy.
In Kisumu and other towns across Nyanza region, companies that had passengers booked on night buses were overwhelmed by protesting passengers.
And in Mombasa, several students returning to school, some accompanied by their parents and guardians, remained stranded for lack of transport for the third consecutive day.
Reporting by Dickson Mwiti, Graham Kajilwa, Kennedy Gachuhi, Nathan Ochunge and Philip Mwakio
