Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) program is an initiative to aid decongest Nairobi City and improve transport sector, but will it succeed? 24 matatu savings and credit companies have moved to court challenging the roll out of the bus rapid transit (BRT) program.
The saccos are also opposing plans to replace the 14 seater matatu’s with buses.
They argue that the orders seeking to stop any further implementations of the BRT until there is legislative framework is intended not to place an obstacle on the path of the BRT program but to have a clear legislated path.
“The said road marking designated for the BRT buses has no location in the existing Traffic rules in the Traffic Rules in the Traffic Act and NTSA cannot bind the petitioners to any commitments,”reads the court documents.
In the court papers they further claimed that the government is in one breadth trumping up its employment generation measures to the citizens to eliminate poverty and when petitioners take up the gauntlet to create employment by getting 14 seater PSV vans.
Why can’t buses be given the proposed BRT routes e.g. ruiru to kibera? Let private matatus or KBS test them before going to buy BRT buses. This gives uhuru/sonko time to put in place everything that’s needed for the matatu CBD reorganization to be implemented.
— Harambee (@JesseKenya) December 8, 2018
They are also challenging the Michuki rules. They claim that it is unlawful for the NTSA to demand that all PSV matatus not having the yellow line ought to be denied operating licenses adding that it is unconstitutional and a violation of the principle of Rule of Law.
They argue that following the NTSA publication Legal Notice 179 of 31 December that all the PSVS below 25 seater capacity would not be licensed for road Service Licenses, the president issued a directive that the decision be stopped adding that as of November 2018 the licensing of the 14 seater’s PSV has been ongoing.