NAIROBI – It is early morning in Nairobi, people are heading to their places of work and the rush is unbeatable with roads jammed up with a long snarl up of vehicles. Along Jogoo Road, a key outlet that connects city centre to Eastlands, passenger service vans and private vehicles owners compete for space in a traffic snarl up stretching several kilometres.
At the City Stadium bus terminus along the road, hundreds of passengers wait to board vehicles to the central business district. But lining at the terminus are several motorbikes and three-wheeled taxis, popularly known as tuktuks. The operators of the motorbikes and tuktuks call for passengers as they compete for customers with the rest of the commuter vehicles.
Most commuters, in a hurry to reach the city centre however board motorbikes in droves, shunning the three-wheeled taxis and public transport vehicles popularly known as matatus. And as the motorbikes make several trips back and forth from the city centre, it takes times before a tuktuk gathers passengers to full capacity and leaves the terminus.
This scenario is replicated in many other parts of the capital, where motorbikes are increasingly becoming the preferred mode of transport for most commuters travelling for short distances. The bikes popularly known as boda bodas are now replacing tuktuks, which a few years ago when they were introduced in Kenya became a hit with commuters in many urban areas across the nation.
It is, therefore, a matter of time before tuktuk operators completely lose to motorbikes as competition in the industry stiffens and continues to favour the latter. A spot check at bus termini in Nairobi ascertains how the fortunes of tuktuk operators are increasingly dwindling. Among tens of motorbike operators, one finds one or two tuktuk drivers waiting for customers. Tuktuks, according to Kenya’s traffic laws, have a capacity of three passengers.
Motorbikes on the other hand carry only one passenger, although most operators flout rules. “I prefer boarding motorbikes than tuktuks because they wade through traffic jams and the fact that they carry one passenger enables you to reach your destination faster,” Fredrick Imonje, a clothes trader in Nairobi said on Thursday. Imonje noted that tuktuks are just like public transport vehicles, also known as matatus, when it comes to traffic jams. “The taxis follow traffic jams. You will spend the same time in the snarl-ups, sometimes even more, because their three wheels makes it hard for them to drive off the road the way matatus do to beat traffic jams,” explained the trader.
Before the advent of motorbikes, she said the three-wheeled taxis were popular because of their capacity. “They used to charge slightly higher than matatus but they were preferred by people travelling for short distances because they would fill up faster, compared to matatus which need 14 passengers,” he said. He noted that while the number of motorbikes has been increasing in Nairobi, that of tuktuk is going down.
“Tuktuks are withdrawing from some of routes that they have been operating for years. For instance, they withdrew from the city centre-Gikomba route where they used to ferry buyers and goods for second-hand clothes traders,” he said. The route is now dominated by motorbikes and there are matatus, which are boarded mostly by people who have luggage. In many instances, most businesses lose ground to their competitors because of pricing.
However, this is not the case in the war between the three-wheeler taxis and motorbikes in Nairobi. Motorbikes charge higher fares than tuktuks. For instance, from the city centre to City Stadium, while tuktuks charge 0.24 U.S. dollars, motorbike operators charge between 0.36 and 0.48 dollars. “It is not about pricing. This is coming down to convenience, the ease to navigate through traffic since both the modes of transport are used mainly during rush hours,” explained Kevin Mwaura, a marketer working in Nairobi.
Mwaura observed that while tides may be going against tuktuks in especially in Nairobi, in other towns where traffic jams are not a permanent fixture, three-wheeler taxis are very popular. “I was in Mombasa in December and I realised tuktuks are very popular. There, they are liked because of the hot climate. It makes sense to ride in a tuktuk, which has a roof than on a motorbike,” he said.
The three-wheeler taxis in the town, he added, charge higher fares than motorbikes. “In Nairobi, we can therefore not conclude time for tuktuks is over. Perhaps passengers may turn back to them because of the rise in the number of motorbike accidents. People want places where they can travel safely,” he said. Kenya Revenue Authority statistics indicate that over 14,000 motorcycles are registered every month in the East African nation. It costs at least 714 dollars to acquire a motorbike while tuktuks 2,450 dollars. (Xinhua)
