New traffic rules draconian and elitist

The Nairobi City Council is rightly bothered about the Nairobi traffic jam and is planning to take action to ease traffic movement.

Let’s give credit where it’s due. This is an improvement from the previous positions where nobody at the council thought of the notorious jam as a bother that warranted action.

However, the raft of solutions offered, especially the banishment of PSV’s from the city center, are ill-informed. They seem designed for rich motorists to have a hustle-free drive into the city.

This plan defies logic because world over, public service vehicles have largely been allowed into the city centre and personal vehicles banned.

PSV’s carry the bulk of the masses into the city and with the new regulations in place, it will not take long for those who can afford to buy new vehicles to do so and bring back the traffic jams.

Most personal vehicles carry one or two people into the city and even at full capacity, only five can be transported.

The average car has ‘wasted’ space to cater for the engine and the luggage compartment. This means that on average, 40 per cent of the vehicle is unoccupied by design while matatus and buses are designed to have 100 per cent occupancy.

Personal vehicles require parking space that on average remains occupied for eight hours as opposed to a well-designed stage where space for ten minibuses can be all that is required to cater for more than 100 matatus several times over.

These facts indicate that personal vehicles are, in fact, responsible for the unnecessary traffic jams.

Therefore, one wonders what thinking informs the kind of ‘solutions’ reached by the city council. Could they be punishing the poor?

{Nicholas Ochieng’, Nairobi}

The recent move by the city council to decongest the city is laudable and deserves praise.

However, what Mayor Geoffrey Majiwa proposed does not offer a lasting solution and is not realistic.

As wananchi travel from the estates to the designated bus termini, there will still be heavy traffic and commuters will end up spending more time on the roads.

What the council has done is to ease traffic congestion within the city centre only. The same old traffic ghost along major highways like Thika and Mombasa roads will still haunt motorists.

If anything, Majiwa has simply increased the fare for commuters who will now have to dig deeper into their pockets. A lasting solution that is pocket-friendly needs to be found.

{Okendo Gabriel, Nairobi}

Coming up with a plan of relocating several matatu terminus to ease the traffic jam within the city center was a good idea.

However, if a majority of matatus end their journey at the Nairobi Railway bus terminus, how will it look like?

And what about the security of passengers? Within Nairobi, there are some sections that should serve as bus stations.

If one works say 15 kilometres from the city center, then the buses they board should be allowed to enter the city center on their way to the Railway terminus.

{Mathews Sewe, Nairobi}