Fewer Kenyans traveling upcountry for Christmas, cite economic difficulties

There were more buses at the Machakos Country Bus, Nairobi on Friday December 23, 2016 compared to past festive periods. PHOTO: BONIFACE OKENDO/STANDARD

NAIROBI: Passengers traveling from Nairobi to other parts of the country are paying double the normal fares on many routes after matatu shuttle and bus operators hiked their charges.

It appears the high fares scared many people from traveling because a spot check by The Standard revealed that there were less people at the popular Machakos bus station.

The annual rush to travel upcountry for the festive season was not evident at Machakos country bus station where there was more luggage than passengers traveling for the best part of the day on Friday.

"There are no passengers. Many people have opted to send luggage home because there is no money, the economy has gotten worse," said one of the loaders at the station.

Januarias Mutua of Nairobi friends Travellers Society while trying to woo passenger travelling to Mwingi noted that despite the increased travelling prices they were charging less compared to last year.

"We are charging Sh500 to Mwingi where we usually charge Sh300, but if you compare it to last year we have come slightly lower," said Mutua.

The doubled and tripled transportation cost despite low passenger turnout has been attributed to lack of customers travelling back to the city.

A business operator at the station, Nicolas Zangi said business had never gotten as worse as what they are witnessing compared to such previous periods.

"I still have yesterday's stock. On a day like this last year you would find not my stall this fully stocked," said Zangi who had sold a couple of milk packets and bread.

He noted that the people he had talked to were saving to send children to schools early January in addition to the lack of money throughout the year.

Long Distance vehicles including those going to Eldoret, Kisumu, Kakamega and Busia were charging between Sh1,500 to Sh2,000.

In other bus stations the situation was slightly better. The North Rift Shuttle was charging Sh1,300 to Eldoret up from the usual Sh800, there were groups of travellers waiting outside the booking office for a vehicle to arrive.

Transline Shuttle also had a considerable number of passengers waiting in queue to book tickets. One is required to pay Sh1,000 to Kisii up to from Sh800.

Passengers had already fully booked Easy Coach buses from Friday to December 27. It was the only PSV that had not changed its charges.