Employ use of technology to streamline public transport

CCTV along Riverside Drive, Nairobi. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Julius Ceaser and Emperor Augustus understood the importance of an expansive road network as an essential factor in the success and reign of the Roman Empire.

As such, the Romans built an extensive system of roads that spanned over 400,000 km across their vast territories, which included Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The roads ended up being a great facilitator in the movement of their armies, promotion of their trade and commerce, and the spread of their culture.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, kingdoms and other emerging civilisations learned that transport is key to growth and development and establishing and maintaining relations of dominance or reciprocity. This, largely, explains why most development aid from the West has been channelled towards mega infrastructure projects. And recently, China embarked on the Belt and Road Initiative to spread its culture and policies.

While some scholars and public policy experts have criticised the ‘export-led economic model premised on heavy investment in infrastructure and building domestic manufacturing capacity and calling for ‘more durable, sustainable economic gains by focusing on improving agricultural productivity with relatively low-cost improvement targeting smallholder farmers’, the jury is still out.

Inadvertently, Kenya has been a great beneficiary of the mega infrastructure investment by both the West and the East. For instance, China owns 72 per cent of Kenya’s external debt, which stands at US$50 billion, mostly channeled toward mega infrastructure. The European Union recently granted Kenya a loan of US$ 348 million to invest in an electric Bus Rapid Transport lane in Nairobi.

However, with all the benefits that an expansive and modern road network brings, usability is key if the grand objective of the investments is to be achieved. Arguably, in Kenya, there is currently no respect for the law when it comes to road usage. There is a strong feeling that the government has failed to, first, decriminalise the public transport sector, second, implement existing laws on traffic, and, finally, apply new technologies to modernise our public transport sector.

Recently, the  Roads and Transport Cabinet Secretary noted that ‘road safety is a shared responsibility and everyone has to play their part if Kenyans desire secure roads. He further issued what might soon be described as ‘Murkomen Rules’, which were by and large reactionary.

In 2004, the then minister in charge of Transport John Michuki, came up with the ‘Michuki Rules’, which restored discipline and order in the public transport sector. However, since the collapse of the Michuki Rules, which should be a subject of study for public policy experts, the matatu and boda boda sectors’ reign of terror on Kenyan roads are largely unchecked and cause untold distress to motorists and other road users.

According to the National Crime Research Centre, most boda boda riders do not have the requisite formal motorcycle rider training while equally most matatu drivers and conductors have never undergone formal training on road usage and most likely do not even have insurance coverage.

Yet the government is not as weak nor under-resourced as is pictured by the road users. Runaway corruption and laxity by government officers in the transport sector have, largely, made public transport a nightmare. Ultimately, the buck does stop with the government, whose electoral promises were focused on expanding the road network but were very hushed on road safety.

Away from the reactionary public pronouncement by the Transport ministry, we explore the various technologies available to the government and other stakeholders if the public transport system is to be streamlined. First, the use of blockchain technology. Simply put, blockchain is a secure record of transactions that have some level of relatedness. This is a useful technology for the transport sector considering it can record and secure the transactions carried out by road users, such as insurance records, road usage indiscipline records, speed records as well as driver and crew records.

There is a lot of data and information that can be generated and recorded on a daily basis to generate a profile of drivers, vehicles, and even transport Saccos. This data and information can then be put to good use in a blockchain to understand the risk profiles of transporters at all levels.

From the blockchain information, Artificial Intelligence and machine learning can be used to ensure strict discipline and even predict high-risk scenarios for accidents. The AI can be developed into an advance warning system to drivers of potential road dangers, and to keep track of black spots.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is the most basic form of security that the transport sector can deploy, and the government has already heavily invested in this technology. Further, the Transport ministry should be granted access to all CCTV gadgets facing our roads and use the same in investigations of road accidents.

Alongside the CCTV technology is biometric technology. In 2018, the Kenya Police invested in a biometric system to monitor security in urban areas as part of its Integrated Command and Control System.

It is possible for the government to give directives on the installation of onboard CCTV cameras for all PSV and cargo carriers, and for the information obtained to be relayed to the enforcement agencies. This would be a game changer in terms of self-discipline and would inform other stakeholders in the transport sector on risk mitigation initiatives.

The government has also invested in a state-of-the-art security system to monitor the Standard Guage Railway, which can be extended to the monitoring of our national highways. The mandate of KeNHA should be extended to monitoring safety and security of highway usage.

There is a pervasive behaviour in Kenya of ignoring minor infractions of the traffic laws, especially on the part of police officers. There are countless incidences such as illegal overtaking, speeding, and drunk driving, among others, that go unchecked. The sum total of these infractions are the gruesome accidents we witness on our roads.