Parents, students to bear brunt of night travel ban as schools re-open

Passengers wait for a bus outside a booking office in mombasa as transport crisis continue to bite following the night travel ban on PSVs. (Photo: Gideon Maundu/Standard)

By Rawlings Otieno

Nairobi, Kenya: With the Government staying put over its ban on night travel by matatus and buses, the transport crisis hits its peak this week when schools re-open for the first term.

Parents and guardians taking their children back to school have to contend with hiked fares as matatu operators opt to recoup their losses following the ban.

The ban, which restricts public service vehicles to operating between 6am and 6pm, has plunged the matatu sector into a crisis. Even with the higher fares, travellers remain stranded countrywide as as matatus are making only one trip daily.

Most of those affected traveled upcountry to celebrate Christmas and New Year festivities with family, friends and relatives back in their home villages and towns

Kenya Parents Association Chairman Musau Ndunda said the ban would heap more costs on parents and guardians who were already paying schools fees for the first term.

High fares

He said close to 60 per cent of students joining Form One would be forced to use some of the fees to pay the high fares imposed by buses and matatu operators.

“The night travel ban will impact very negatively to parents and guardians taking their children back to school. The government must address this issue because our children will not arrive in school on time to begin their studies,” said Musau.

According to Musau, the parents association has already written to Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau to allow night travel for school-going children alone during this time of opening.

“It will be very difficult for a student from Mombasa joining a school in Kakamega. It will take more than two days’ travel yet the cost of living has also gone up. We are just appealing to the Government to come up with ways to address the transport crisis,” added Musau.

Transport operators argue that the high prices set are meant to compensate for the losses resulting from the ban on night travel and to cash in on high demands as long holidays end.

Several travelers were yesterday stranded in various bus stages, struggling to board the few available means of transport to their destinations.

Already bus operators have vowed to fight the ban in court saying it is not the solutions to road the road carnage.

Kenya Country Buses Owners’ Association, (KCBOA) Chairman, Mr Paul Muthumbi said buses are not the main cause of accidents in Kenya, and now wants the CS to explain how he came up with the ban.

“We all want accidents to reduce on our roads. What we want to know is how the CS decided to ban night travel on PSV and left other road users. As far as we are concerned, buses do not cause accidents, but only reckless drivers who are given licences by the Government,” said Muthumbi.

The association insisted that the ban was ill-advised and issued without consulting stakeholders and the operators who ferry passengers, goods and services across the country.

Most buses operators have lost millions of shillings following the publication of Legal Notice 290 by the National Transport and Safety Authority banning night travel for buses and other PSV vehicles to curb the rising incidents of road crashes among other measures.

They claim buses should be allowed to continue operating, so as to reduce pressure on daytime travel, adding that the ban has serious financial implications for matatus.

The association also took issue with the Government over the specifications of the two digital speed governors to be fitted on all PSVs.

“There is a new circular that talks of only two specifications. But if you go to the shops, these types of speed governors are not in the country. We are not opposed to fitting speed governors in the buses, but it cannot be only these two types,” added Muthumbi.

Peter Mwathe, a parent in Nairobi, was worried that his two sons would not be able to report today to their school in Kakamega County because of the ban.

“We have spend too much on shopping but our problems are far from over,” he said