I will NEVER tire saying this

Nairobi does NOT need a double decker road from the airport to Westlands. It’s simply waste of money.
If only building a wider road could solve our traffic headache why is Thika highway already a mess?
What we need is a working mass public transport system. I shared this same solution 10 years ago and many times again. Since then Dar implemented a well thought out BRT system NOT waking up and painting some tarmac then announce that we now have a BRT. I recall sharing images of Bangkok who managed to mitigate big time their choking traffic gridlock.
Well this time I share a very similar image but this time it is right next door in Addis Ababa. Look at the street below devoid of cars.
JKIA to Westlands or even Athi River to Kangemi thousands will leave their cars at home and hop on to this sky train. Well you only get to do this if your eyes are open on those benchmarking trips .
Same can be done in Mombasa . MIA all the way to Mtwapa and in future MIA to Diani.
Finally the fear that Matatu owners will be out of business is simply misplaced . If you own 20 matatus a sacco can own several coaches. A PPP can build the line , lease the line to anyone . Virgin Trains don’t own the railway line.
What is so hard in doing this ? You want to leave a legacy then this is it. In under 3 years this can be done. I believe it can be done and Nairobi can regain some sanity
When public transport works the rich ride the train the poor buy cars.
Well as always I choose to remain an optimist.
Mohammed Hersi
Chairman
Kenya Tourism Federation
Leave a Reply