It is now official.The once lucrative transport industry is now headed to its death bed, having been on a steady decline for the last 5 years
This sector, mainly dominated by PSV's experienced a temporary boost when michuki rules restored sanity, attracting thousands of new entrants. But the going has become tougher as the sector is being burdened with extortionist cartels consisting of outlawed gangs, the kenya police, the local authorities in conjunction with towing truck owners, locally known as break down vehicles.
As a result, many investors are quietly exiting in preference for low risk investment avenues.The frequent government interference is inducing uncertainty as investors are no longer sure of the return on investments.
in the last 5 years, the government has initiated changes which have increased the operating expenses.The reduction on carrying capacity, the increase of court fines as pertaining to minor traffic offences, the increase of VAT rate on used spare parts are other contributing factors. The grapevine has it that these measures are aimed at driving out the small time operator.
All along the government has come across as safeguarding the lives of the public, while at the same time portraying the PSV operators as profit hungry individuals who do not mind the welfare of the commuter.
With the official statistics showing a decline of 1.1% in the sector, and a looming 3 day national wide strike called by the PSV owners, it is mandatory that the issues at hand be handle seriously this time round. It is not enough to merely dismiss the issue with generalization of accusations. The economy is bleeding, and it makes no sense to kill certain sectors and expect overall economic growth.

I think the best optiponm would be to find ivestosrs ready to pump serious cash into the rail network, if it could be carry at least 200,000 people daily at an affordable fee, it would ease the menace we witness daiy.
Unfortunately in Kenya, as long as some seniour officials are not getting a cut, nothing will happen.

i hope the 1.1% decline is wholly on the 14 seaters....
Who in the forum is in the bizness and to shade some more light on their business margins...

A peep at the history of tranport companies in kenya reveals only those dealing with an exclusive clienteel have managed to stay a float, eg Akamba, Easy coach etc. They are charging a little extra for better services. But for those companies cattering for the common man, it has been one big grave yard.... kenya bus, stage coach, mawingo, otc, kwega, kirenga, shaggy, samia, mbukinya, rwega, gitero, blue line, roadways nyanza, crane coaches, benways, magutu swinger, lari express, ......my memory is failing me. Clearly this is one bussiness that defys the advantages of economics of large scale. presently, the large operators do not have a bus to their name, something called franchisement. They manage busses on behalf of the owners at a fee. However, the owner meets expenses arising from repairs, court fines, insurance premiums,etc. And when he fails, he is expelled........

The last time I checked KBS was the first company to introduce shuttle busses that carried only sitting passengers, as a premium service. But subsequent changes in the transport sector threw a couple of spanners into their works. As for double M, we will only coment latter.