If you got a matatu shout Hallelujah! But Prepare for a walking experience.

Michuki rules from the name itself just sounds like no joke, it is indeed a no joke. Did you get a matatu today at the normal price without struggles and waiting for more than one hour? If you did then you are among the lucky ones.

Commuters had to pay unreasonably high fares by the few matatus in operation to get to their destinations. ​The matatu operators are protesting reintroduction of the ‘Michuki’ traffic rules.

The new crackdown is meant to streamline matatu sector and bring sanity back to the roads.Police started enforcing Michuki traffic rules on Sunday, making a surprise crackdown in Nairobi.

They are primarily going after public service vehicles as part of measures to curb road carnage.The rules introduced by former Transport Minister, the late John Michuki commonly known as Michuki rules, had been abandoned.

This has led to increased number of road accidents that have claimed many lives across the country.The public transport operators have protested that without proper structures, the enforcement may not achieve results.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i attributed the high road accidents to “lack of observance of the laws governing traffic management.”

The highlights were that every public service vehicle (PSV) must be fitted with speed governors that capped speed at 80 kilometres per hour, have seat belts for all passengers, and have a defined passenger capacity to prevent overloading. They also required drivers to display their photo prominently in the matatu to curb “squad” driving, and made it mandatory for PSVs to have the ubiquitous yellow line that identifies them.

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The fares are normally between Sh70 and Sh100, depending on the time, but they were charging between Sh150 and Sh200 as traffic police officers started the crackdown on vehicles that are not compliant with ‘Michuki rules’.

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Some private vehicles took advantage of the situation and ferried passengers to town.

In Kasarani, only one operator — Mwiki Sacco Limited — was operating early morning and the vehicles were charging between Sh150 and Sh200 to Nairobi city centre.

 

The matatus were also not entering the Central Business District. Instead, they were dropping passengers off at Ngara.

 

 

 

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