• While 51 seater will be allowed a sitting capacity of 30 including the driver and crew, in the case of bodabodas, only one pillion passenger shall be carried.
•Tuktuks shall only be allowed to carry one passenger at any time but the CS said the Health ministry should consider reviewing the directive to allow tuktuks to carry two passengers.
Image: FILE
The government has relaxed Covid-19 protocols for the public transport sector.
In the new guidelines by Transport CS James Macharia, a 14 seater capacity will now carry 10 passengers as opposed to 8 including driver and crew.
The new guidelines will also see 33-seaters allowed a sitting capacity of 18 including the driver and crew.
While 51 seater will be allowed a sitting capacity of 30 including the driver and crew, in the case of bodabodas, only one pillion passenger shall be carried.
Tuktuks shall only be allowed to carry one passenger at any time but the CS said the Health ministry should consider reviewing the directive to allow tuktuks to carry two passengers.
Macharia said a five-seater car will now be allowed a maximum of three passengers and a seven-seater car a maximum of five passengers.
In March this year, the government issued directives compelling the matatu sector to drastically reduce the number of passengers to avoid the potential spread of the coronavirus through congested matatus.
To adhere to the social distancing directive, the 14-seater matatus were directed to carry eight passengers, those with a 25-seater capacity to reduce to 15 passengers while those above a 30-seater capacity were directed to maintain a capacity of 60 per cent per trip.
The matatus were to ensure passengers wash their hands and are sanitized before boarding any vehicle.
They were also to ensure the PSVs are fumigated after every trip.
Since the directives were put in place, many commuters have had to dig deeper in their pockets to meet hiked prices.
For instance within Nairobi, a route that cost Sh50 has been doubled to Sh100 while some that cost Sh80 have been hiked to Sh120.
With regards to long distance travelers, bus companies will now have to keep passenger manifests for a minimum period of one month before destroying them.
“The bus companies will provide without undue delay and without prejudice the full names, nationality, passport or ID Number, telephone number allocated seat and usual residence to the relevant public health authorities upon request for contact tracing purposes,” the guidelines read.
The companies will also have to ensure the driver’s contact address is prominently displayed for any reference.
“They must sensitize passengers on safety measures before departure for the distance journey and ensure that every public service vehicle have waste bins with a liner for safe waste disposal,” the guidelines read in part.
Macharia said as a result, the government will identify and gazette designated stop-overs along the transport corridors, introduce and promote use of cashless fare payment system in the PSV industry to mitigate transmission of coronavirus between drivers/crew and passengers through cash transaction.
“The government shall enhance enforcement of the traffic rules and regulations and remove illegal gangs along the routes that have invaded the sector for rent seeking and in addition ensure that rogue motorists do not cause obstruction to traffic flow along busy road section/junctions," he said.
"This is in order to decrease congestion on the road network thereby reducing onboard travel time for commuters thus significantly decreasing the exposure time for people while in PSVs."