PHOTO – Some stranded waiting helplessly as night travel ban bites
Dar es Salaam – The move by Kenyan Transport Authorities to restrict passenger motor vehicles from travelling after dusk is causing an uproar on the Tanzania side of the border.
However, Tanzanian operators whose buses go to Kenya, say they are not affected. Dar Express is among the Tanzanian bus companies whose northern bound fleets cross into Kenya, linking Dar es Salaam to Nairobi via Arusha and Kilimanjaro.
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“I have not yet received any complaints from my drivers or managers, which means they are not experiencing any problem,” said the Director of Dar Express buses, Mr Yudika Mremi, when contacted by phone. Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) had effectively from this January (2018), banned all passenger buses from travelling after 7.00 PM in the night.
The NTSA Director General, Mr Francis Meja, defended the ban as a “well thought-out decision despite the inconveniences it had caused to travellers and bus companies.” As far as he is concerned, “The decision was arrived at after careful consideration and discussions for public good and safety”.
Travellers in Kenya became stranded after the night travel ban was imposed, especially for passengers of motor vehicles. It was assumed that the decision is tailored to reduce the number of road accidents.
But Kenya’s passenger service operators criticised the ban as retrogressive and ill-advised, with the Matatu Welfare Association (MWA) chairman Mr Dickson Mbugua claiming that it was a poorly thought-out unilateral decision that has no place in the 21st century.
Kenya seems to follow into Tanzania’s footsteps after the latter banned buses from travelling at night back in 1994 in order to avert road accidents. But the neighbouring country went for overkill because while Tanzania restricts night travel after midnight, Kenya would rather have all buses grounded before 8.00 pm.
We checked with Nairobi bus agents in Arusha, including those of Tahmeed, Modern Coach and Dar Lux. All admitted that buses travelling from Dar es Salaam depart at 6.00 am and are usually scheduled to get into Nairobi at 10.00pm three hours past the time ceiling fixed by Kenyan transport regulators.
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However, they assured that, the ban has not affected the Namanga to Nairobi route and that Tanzanian buses have been allowed to deliver their passengers to their respective stations in the Kenyan capital even after 7.00pm.
