``Advantages of Road Pricing:

In the view of many economists and transportation experts, toll roads, and pricing roads more generally, offer important advantages in transportation. At present TCA realizes some of the benefits of road pricing by raising funds to pay for construction and using some peak period pricing to manage congestion. Moreover, the technology exists and can be employed in the future to take advantage of more of the potential advantages, should they choose to do so. Key among these are:
• Efficiency: Toll roads, when used to reduce congestion through charges that reflect current utilization, send signals to consumers about the full cost of using the road. This includes not only wear-and-tear costs, but the costs imposed by an additional driver on the travel speed of all other drivers. Toll pricing allows for rational decisions on the part of consumers – they can choose to avoid unnecessary trips and to time-shift trips to less congested times. A 1995 study of California roadways found that current congestion is under-priced by a factor of nine, while prices at uncongested times are twice the appropriate level.

• Building the Right Facilities: Without proper price signals (including lack of any direct charges), building expensive new urban roadways leads to continually increasing congestion. In the absence of proper pricing, this result is likely. With pricing, however, the over-use of a facility is kept in check, and if congestion rises, prices rise.

• Providing Funding: If congestion rises, prices rise and provide the mechanism (and signal) to fund the project. Bond financing can be raised to pay for the project, with the future toll collections used as collateral.
• Reducing Sprawl: Urban sprawl is the direct result of under-pricing roadways. If drivers were required to pay the true cost of using a roadway, there would be less incentive to keep moving further away from job centers.

• Fairness: Users pay for their use in proportion to their use. Where congestion charges (or time-of-day pricing) can be implemented, they pay for the cost they impose on each other through congestion.

• Greater Safety: According to studies, the accident rate on toll roads – where the flow of traffic is more even – is lower.
• Matching Costs and Benefits: Most roadways are funded through gasoline excise taxes. These taxes do not measure costs imposed by driving – they fail to address differences in fuel economy and the maintenance cost imposed by different vehicle weights. A toll system charges for use directly.

• Increased Fuel Economy: By increasing the overall capacity of a region’s transportation system, toll roads are able to absorb some of the traffic that would otherwise use non-toll highways and interstates. The result is a decrease in overall traffic congestion. Vehicles on both toll and non-toll roadways are able to move at more fuel efficient speeds.''

SIMPLE. Make alternative means more acceptable to the middle class and then put something to discourage. Even if it's charges! The train coaches currently look rusty and dirty. Rail needs to be serious business and govt priority.

Otherwise we may have to do roads every 2 years!

If there were regular rail services, say every hour or so, linking the different areas of Nairobi eg Eastlando -> CBD-> Westi and back or Syokimau->Westi and back and then Eastlando->Syokimau, I am sure most people would leave their cars at home. Couple this with higher taxes on vehicle usage (parking fee, congestion charge etc), and moving government services and offices to residential areas, traffic jam will reduce significantly. There will be a loss of investment and employment in the matatu sector that will have to be taken care of but overall the larger society will be better off. However, given our pathetic history of taking shortcuts and avoiding doing what needs to be done, its much easier to ban private cars, all other options are conveniently forgotten.

See how cities with higher number of vehicles per capita are congested? Even if you do those barabara za gorofa we wont ease traffic in the long run. Number of vehicles will increase to match the good roads.

We need regular shorter trains operating every 30 mins; and these should be light trains, actually overland or suspended track metros...
I would not vouch for Trams with the kind of motorist we have, zitagongwo left right and centre.