It's a rickety affair for matatus plying Free Area and Ngata routes
An exposed battery in a matatu plying Free Area route on February 14, 2024.
You must have seen them in Nakuru. Those matatus with rickety seats, emitting smoke so black you would think the vehicle will catch fire.
Well, so has Mr Gabriel Iseu. He shares details with Mtaa Wangu of matatus he has to hop on every day from Free Area to the city centre and back.
These matatus he says have torn chair covers, an exposed battery, broken doors and a suspicious engine sound.
One of the torn seats in a matatu plying the Free Area route on February 14, 2024.
All these have turned Gabriel into a very prayerful man, always summoning the powers that be, asking that they allow him to reach his destination in one piece.
"As I board the matatu every day, I find myself taken aback by the evident state of despair, as I cannot help but notice how neglected the vehicle is,” he says in shock.
Mr Iseu points out how this daily experience has left him questioning how a vehicle in such a compromised state can be allowed to operate on the road.
“I always wonder how the police allow such matatus to operate. This is endangering the lives of the passengers on board. What happened to the famous Michuki laws?” he laments.
Mr Iseu notes that the broken doors swing open with every turn, a visual reminder of the road unworthiness of these vehicles.
On the other side of town, along the Ngata route, Lucy Wairimu laments of a similar situation, except in her case there are a few differences.
“In as much as most of those vehicles are in a deplorable state, they also carry passengers in excess. The concept of sitting on a sambaza is very much alive along the Ngata route,” she states.
Wairimu goes ahead to reveal that the discomfort in these vehicles is made worse by the animals, mostly chicken who are ferried in these same matatus.
“If you are not fighting for leg space with a bag of maize, it is a live chicken,” she says in laughter.
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Mtaa Wangu reached out to drivers plying these routes for a comment but they refused to speak saying it would be bad for business.