Nairobi crying out for efficient transport

That Nairobi’s mass transport system is in a sorry state is not in doubt. Therefore, plans to establish a mass transport system to cater for 10 million residents of the capital city and satellite towns must have elicited a fair amount of excitement. However, schemes to streamline the city’s transport system have always been mooted, but either by design or default, they never take off.

Nevertheless, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s establishment of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority to manage this system for the capital and the satellite towns of Kajiado, Machakos, Kiambu and Murang’a will be a talking point for long suffering commuters.

The authority will oversee both the bus rapid-transit and commuter rail which it is anticipated will streamline traffic flow and ease congestion.

To say that the idea is long overdue is an understatement. But now that it has been mooted, the development of this system must be fast-tracked to rid the capital of the unruly private matatus that terrorise other road users and commuters. A well-managed mass transport system will not only enrich the lives of city residents and visitors, it will also give Nairobi the much-needed touch of modernity.