Reasons Why Matatu Culture Needs to Die!

Lord knows there's no love lost between me and the matatu industry, especially now that I've spent enough time behind the steering wheel of a car to know how infinitely hazardous they are on the roads. However, for a little reference, I will give you an experience from my time spent in China

Anyone who's been to China will no doubt be familiar with the dynamics of things during the Spring Festival (their Lunar New Year Celebrations). Things in a lot of places can come to a literal standstill as people travel to their hometowns for the celebrations, literally turning some locales into ghost towns. Such was the scenario I faced in Chashan, Wenzhou, which was the location for our university town. Well, as luck would have it, while everyone was disappearing for the holidays, I still had to commute to the city for my internship -commitments at the hospital. I remember setting off one morning, and there were only about 3 other commuters on the bus. The bus driver dutifully stopped at each bus stop, and kept time. I think there were never more than 10 commuters on that bus, but we suffered no delays and business went on as usual 

Compare this to the typical Kenyan scenario that takes place on the weekends, in my case on Sundays.

Kenya is a not a unique case when it comes to the issue of Matatus. Just the other day, someone made it known to me that even South Africa has something akin to the matatu industry; I remember my Ghanaian friends mentioning "Tro Tros", and even remarking about how glad they were that bus fares down in Wenzhou wouldn't suddenly shoot up for no apparent reason during the rainy season (exploiting people is definitely a cultural universal).

Personally, growing up in Kenya in the 80s was a diametrically different experience. Matatus were something of a rarity; we actually had a functioning Bus system (the Kenya Bus Service - KBS), which had been in play for the longest time. It had a wide reaching and functional network, with clearly laid out fares and bus times (unbeknownst to me, it was a private company). I don't think I even entered a matatu before the mid 90s. One would wonder why matatus were actually introduced when the formal bus system was doing such a good job of getting commuters to their destinations so efficiently. As with all things in Kenya, the reason was Greed. As I've heard it explained, seeking to capitalize on the transport industry, government officials in Jomo Kenyatta's government sought his permission to introduce the vehicles as an extra source of income. (Perhaps it was linked to someone's acquiring of a Nissan Urvan tender - tenderpreneurship has always run deep in this country). Never truly fully legislated, the matatu industry went on to grow in prominence like a cancer.

It was very sad that the Kenya Bus Company went on to flounder in the latter part of the 90s. For a private company with all its resources and reputation which was practically ingrained into Kenyan psyches to fail so dramatically was something of a miracle. However, after having dealt with a slew of such mishaps in the recent memorable past (Uchumi, Nakumatt), it has become increasingly clear that the issue is always mismanagement; sometimes it is merely mismanagement with an aim of scuttling a business so as to make it easier to establish a similar business in the same market space. At least, this appears to be what George Thuo did as he rose through the ranks at KBS, and then left it to form his own transport company - City Hoppa.

With few exceptions, attempts to regulate the matatu industry have really been failures. The "Michuki Rules" seemed to be a step in the right direction, but those truly only worked because they were one man's Iron-willed affront (backed by the President) to a practically rogue entity. The matatus initially rose up defiantly and went on a massive strike, but Hon. Michuki stuck to his guns and business sense prevailed. "The Michuki Rules" were not perfect, but they were a start in the right direction.  Only problem is that President Kibaki followed this massive success by moving Hon. Michuki to the Ministry of Environment and replaced him with Amb. Ali Mwakwere. The gains made under Hon. Michuki were eroded almost immediately, but the death knell happened during one moment Kenyans vividly remember: as usual, the Ministry of Transport had deployed its familiar routine of mounting roadside operations to put the matatus in check; shortly afterwards, Amb. Mwakwere called off the operation, citing the fact that even he as a matatu owner was suffering. After that, the plummet back to sheer lawlessness is history.

Recently, parliamentarians have been calling for a resumption of the "Michuki Rules" on our roads in order to try to bring some sanity to the transport industry. In my opinion, this is a rather lazy course of action. The "Michuki Rules"had their time and place: what they really were was a symbol that matatus could be controlled if the right kind of pressure was applied. However, they were not perfect and needed to be revised. Two immediate revisions are as follows:

1.  There is no need to outlaw standing in buses. The world over, people stand in buses: the buses are actually designed for it
   Solution: Dedicated Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes coupled with larger buses would both help to ease traffic jams and aid in shuttling passengers to their destinations.
2. Wearing seatbelts in a bus is unnecessary.
   I realized this might have been a way for them to ensure that only a specific number of passengers were carried within a vehicle, but it is actually a safety hazard. People surmise that seatbelts will help in case of an accident, but the opposite is true. First off, the seatbelts have only been retrofitted, not designed with the specific vehicle from the beginning. Second, the seatbelts are usually poorly-adjusted, which was a reason why so many of them hang down to the floor, picking up all manner of dirt that will end up deposited on your clothing. Third, what exactly are you tethering the passenger to? The seats in our matatus are merely welded to the sheet metal that lightly sits on top of the chassis, and when an accident arises, the seats just tumble like dominoes, effectively trapping you under a cascade of chairs. The seatbelt would only further impede your ability to be extricated from such a wreck.
   
   In the short time that I worked at an Orthopaedic Department, I saw 2 leg fractures that arose from 2 matatu accidents with a similar scenario to the one listed above. Talking to engineers and orthopaedic surgeons will only make you aware of how precarious the situation really is.
   
   Solution: the institutions in-charge really have to tackle this from the start - ensuring proper body construction, and that the matatus are driven within proper speed limits.

I am sincerely amazed at the carelessness of matatu drivers on the road. The other day, as I was driving,  I witnessed a matatu basically force someone to swerve off the road to avoid an impending calamity. I can remember one policeman remarking during my driving license test that "Matatu drivers are probably the best drivers because they know all the rules, and thus how to skirt around them." His point was basically a rebuttal of the assumption that roads could be made safer by forcing matatu drivers to retake driving licensing tests, because they would basically pass them without any issues.

However, I'm reaching out to a higher ideal here. We cannot continue to have the most reckless foolhardy drivers transporting the majority of our populace and not expect a high level calamity to occur...it is just insane. I've ridden in buses in both the US and China, and can without a doubt attest that the bus drivers are the safest drivers on the roads. That especially comes in handy in a place like China because most other road users are resounding lunatics. I remember one time seeing a college student on a scooter just calmly merge carelessly onto a road, cutting off a bus driver, and forcing the driver to stop dramatically. Having a matatu in the hands of a reckless driver is basically turning the matatu into an armed missile; hurtling at neck breaking speed, it really is just a petrol bomb aimed at innocent bystanders and fellow road users, and also likely a sarcophagus for its passengers. We need to take the "maximum number of trips = maximum profits" away from the industry so that we can focus on safety and sanity. 

However, matatu culture is not merely the preserve of matatus; the whole transport industry also sadly indulges in it. I have a big issue with matatus stopping all over the place. One day a driver must just have been trying to test my patience: he stopped in the middle of the road to drop off a passenger; then, I kid you not, he drove 15 metres ahead and pulled off into a bus stop to pick up a few passengers!!! However, driving along some roads, it's very easy to notice that there is not one single designated bus stop for public service vehicles to pull into. Therefore, is it any wonder that matatus are so unruly if even the authorities cannot provide such simple fixes.

In the same vein, it has always been a foolish idea to use the police to enforce these "traffic operations". I was disgusted at how diligent officers appeared to be about stopping matatus once the "Michuki Rules" were re-introduced, yet they were the same ones previously abetting matatus in their bad behaviour so long as they got a bribe. At one previous point, I remember passing as many as 18 policemen scattered between 3 checkpoints on my early morning commute, and that didn't count for any sort of deterrence because perilous matatu driving was the norm. It is an infinitely foolish idea to underpay an entire rung of essential service personnel, and expect them to act honourably. Add to this the fact that Kenya lacks any sort of effective "Conflict of Interest" laws and you end up with politicians (the likes of Amb. Mwakwere) and even the very policemen who are supposed to protect us indulging in the very industry that they are meant to surveil.

We really have to go back to basics in order to deal with this colossal mess. Nairobi Senator Johnson Sakaja believes that the answer is for the government to provide a metro system that he feels could be profitable, which I feel is a bit misguided. Governments the world over heavily subsidize metro systems, to the point of incurring visible losses just so that they can ensure that people are efficiently shuttled to their destinations. It all balances out in the end because everyone knows that enduring traffic jams pose a financial impediment, as well as contributing additional stress and health hazards to the populace sitting in traffic. Quite simply speaking, there is no room for matatus and "matatu culture" in the considerations of a well-functioning Kenya; maybe as just a vestigial accessory, but not as the principal means of transporting our people around.

I wish Pres. Kenyatta would pursue this issue with more vigour than he does the SGR (Standard Gauge Railway). The SGR probably won't even be profitable before his term in office ends; however, 1 - 2 years of consistent attention paid to public transportation would have fully borne all its fruit. The question is whether anyone's really thinking about this issue; our slumbering Members of Parliament are simply slapping an outdated band-aid on a system that they've never even bothered to understand because they've never had to use it.

God Almighty, please show us the way