By Malachi Motano
Kisumu Bus Terminus was a beehive of activities on Monday as buses and matatus from different Saccos started ferrying passengers on full capacity.
The development following a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government and Matatu operators who said they had suffered losses since when the COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in March 2020.
The terminus that had been largely deserted since the advent of Covid-19 Pandemic was bustling as passengers scrambled for available buses.
According to Otieno Akuom, a clerk at the Kisumu Siaya route, most vehicles pulled out of business due to stringiest measures announced by the Ministry of Health to contain the spread of the virus after they were required to carry half or three quarters of the capacity.
“We hardly made good money during the ban and most of our people working in the transport sector could walk home empty handed on most days,” he said.
He added that with the enforcement of curfew hours that sometimes runs from 7pm to 4am, the sector had suffered massive losses.
“All the vehicles are now back on the road, Modern Coast that withdrew all their fleet from the road is back in business, plying the Busia-Mombasa route,” he said.
The number of passengers travelling had tripled on Monday as the bus terminus was full due to the race back to school.
Bernard Rolomosa a driver of Transline Services said that the pandemic had caused massive losses, adding that that they were strictly observing the rules, carrying a maximum of 7 passengers even as parents struggled to reach schools for the admission of Form Ones.
Rolomosa who is plying Kisumu, Nairobi via Kisii route said they have also reverted to their initial fares assuring passengers of reduced cost of travelling.
“We had many challenges during the ban, now we have normalized our fares,” he said.
Most operators had increased fares to compensate for the empty seats. Washington Okidi, an agent for the Transline Services said they increased fares on the Kisumu-Kisii route to Sh600 but have now sliced it to Sh400.
He stated that they were forced to increase the fares since the number of passengers was reduced, yet the cost of fuel was maintained and sometimes hiked.
The situation replicated across the country.
