Touts to go as city’s Green Park terminus set for commissioning

There will be no more menacing knife-wielding gangs posing as touts, harassing passengers from dawn to dusk, or pickpockets preying on unsuspecting commuters.

NMS infrastructure and public works engineer, Michael Ochieng, told the Nation yesterday that technology will take over from touts.

“There will be no touting. We’ll have a management structure, which is receptive to the customers who are using those vehicles and that is what we want to implement; it should be something acceptable to the matatu owners,” he said.

The chairman of matatu operators in the CBD, Jamal Ibrahim, echoed Eng Ochieng’s sentiments and said their members will now be ‘professional’.

“What we are trying to do is get rid of that bad culture and run the industry like the corporate world. There will be no touting. Things will be done in an orderly manner, where your matatu will come to where you are, board and then take you to your destination,” he said.

The fancy terminus will act as the drop-off and pick-up point for matatus plying Ngong and Lang’ata routes once the decongestion process begins.

“The project is 95 per cent complete; the five per cent will be completed by the end of the week,” said Eng Ochieng’.

Automation

An electronic board will control all the vehicles.

“All incoming PSVs will be monitored by cameras. They will queue according to their saccos, and drivers will follow directions from the screens mounted at the terminus,” he said.

Apart from PSVs, it will also accommodate boda-bodas and taxis in the city, which will have their designated parking bays. The plan is to ensure they are available to offer last-mile connectivity once commuters alight from matatus.

Automation has also been enhanced and commuters will have alternative means to access travel information through a mobile app. A police station will be set up to ensure the safety of commuters and matatu crews.

The terminus also has a Level 2 hospital, a supermarket, eateries and free Wi-Fi. With about 3,000 people expected to use it daily, a dispensary that will offer medical assistance in emergency cases is ready.

“The dispensary is done and we are now looking for funds to equip it,” said Eng Ochieng’.

Two modern ablution blocks will be set up, one at the drop-off point and the other at the pick-up area, which will be hygienic and user-friendly to everyone, including the physically challenged and children.

Kenya Railways managing director, Philip Mainga, said they were working with NMS to launch shuttle buses that will ferry people between the terminus and the railway station.

“After President Kenyatta commissions the park, we will move all these matatus to the new terminus and place our buses here. We are trying to restore sanity in the transport sector in Nairobi,” said Mr Mainga.

Underground tunnels

Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) director-general, Eng Peter Mundinia, said the authority will build two underground tunnels between the terminus and CBD because putting up a footbridge won’t be possible.

“Due to the expected high traffic, we shall build two underground tunnels between the park and city centre so that people can move freely across Uhuru Highway to either side without any inconvenience,” he said.

The engineer said it would be impossible to put up a pedestrian footbridge over the highway due to the height of the Nairobi Expressway, which is under construction.

Once completed, the park design will be replicated in other termini that NMS plans to build along Workshop Road, Westlands, Landhies–Muthurwa and Globe Roundabout.

The workshop terminus, located between Haile Selassie and Uhuru Highway, will serve matatus plying Mombasa Road, South B, South C, Industrial Area, Imara Daima, Athi River, Kitengela and Machakos routes.

Eng Ochieng said it will be in two parts with the first next to Haile Selassie Avenue and the other along Bunyala Road, where people can access the CBD via the pedestrian footbridge at railways.