Like any other country’s capital, a day in Nairobi is abuzz with activities as Kenyans move from all corners of the city from dawn to dusk, hoping to make an extra coin.
Time is money, they say, and mobility in the capital is of priority for time- and money-conscious city dwellers.
According to the 2019 census, Nairobi county had a population of 4.4 million, with an annual growth rate of 4.1 per cent.
A Nairobi County Air Quality Action Plan (2019-23) notes that walking and public transport are the main means of transport in the city.
“Nairobi is estimated to accommodate 30 per cent of Kenya’s national vehicle population. As of August 2018, Kenya had 3.1 million registered vehicles, rising from 2 million in 2013. This translates to a national vehicle population growth rate of about 11 per cent per annum in the last five years,” the plan states.
The plan put up to develop better air quality management strategies also notes that public transport accounts for more than 50 per cent of all the trips in Nairobi, private cars 15 per cent, while the remaining percentage is mainly by walking, bicycles or motorcycles.
A conference report of the Africa Clean Mobility Week hosted at UN Environment in Nairobi in 2018 attended by 42 countries noted that the transport sector in most African cities is unable to provide affordable, accessible, clean and efficient transport to meet growing demand for mobility.
“It is fundamental that Africa plans to meet the mobility demands of rapidly growing cities and integrates sustainable and inclusive transport into the region's development pathway, as well as ensures a transition to clean fuels and vehicle technologies, as part of achieving the much-needed improved connectivity and a healthier environment.”
Several initiatives are coming up in the city to model sustainable mobility.
I saw the opportunity of opening a bicycle parking facility because I used to commute daily with my bicycle to the office but I didn’t have a place to park my bike
BAISKELI CENTRE
Baiskeli is Nairobi’s first bicycle parking facility. It's located on Kipande Road, near Globe Cinema Roundabout, and was founded in mid-2021 by cycling enthusiast Victor Gitau.
A graduate quantity surveyor, Gitau grew up as an avid cyclist, riding for most of his schooling life before finally engaging his hobby to fight climate change.
“I saw the opportunity of opening a bicycle parking facility because I used to commute daily with my bicycle to the office but I didn’t have a place to park my bike,” he said during an interview with the Star at the facility.
“It has been a real journey. I have tried to engage a lot of cyclists to commute in the morning. We have even started a programme called bike to work, where commuters from a single area meet and cycle together to the CBD,” he says.
The main challenge, he says, is lack of dedicated cycling lanes in most roads, and lack of respect by motorists.
“We all know cycling is a healthy way of commuting and it reduces carbon emissions in the city, but lack of cycling lanes is keeping people away from cycling,” he says.
Apart from a parking area, the centre also features showers to refresh, accessories and maintenance services.
He says cycling for short distances helps beat traffic jams, hence saving time, helping to save the environment from matatu carbon emissions, while at the same time keeping fit.
The facility is also doing deliveries in the CBD using normal and electric bicycles.
“In my thinking, a bicycle parking facility is something that should be taken up by the government. Non-Motorised Transport is a docket in the government; why wouldn’t they take up the initiative and put up dedicated bicycle lanes?” he says.
The Africa Clean Mobility Week report noted that the status quo is increasingly taking a toll on Africa’s society, economies and environment.
This is due to problems associated with the high cost of traffic congestion, air pollution and its negative impacts on health, road fatalities, inadequate transport infrastructure and exclusion of the most vulnerable.
ELECTRIC CARS, MOTORBIKES
Apart from bicycles, a few electric companies are helping provide alternative clean mobility solutions.
Kiri EV, an electric mobility, is a start-up founded by Christopher Maara, an entrepreneur and renewable energy promoter.
“We did research in electric mobility and saw that a lot of countries in Asia are taking up electric bikes. And we saw in Africa, it’s not yet an embraced idea, and we decided to test out the bikes.”
“We did a first test with three bikes and two scooters and did research and development in 2020. In 2021, we brought in 15 bikes and became commercial, leasing the bikes to other companies and using riders, and we started seeing a lot of interest,” Maara said during an interview at his company based on Kiambu Road.
He says the bikes are comfortable as they don’t have engines, hence no vibration and less noise.
“From what we have studied, normal petrol bikes emit about 2 tons of carbon emissions per year, while ours have zero emissions. Our emissions only come from production,” he says.
“Electric motorbikes also don’t require motor oil, which also saves [the environment] because there is less demand for refined oils, which reduces the global chain of emissions.”
Along Nairobi’s Airport North Road in Embakasi area, the Star finds young engineers busy at a production workshop of Roam, a company that develops and designs electric buses and motorcycles.
Albin Wilson, chief of product at Roam, says the focus of the company is to electrify the African transport system.
“The reason why we focus on boda bodas and matatus is because they are a shared means of transport, meaning the usage of the vehicles is higher,” Wilson says.
“Which means each individual being transported using the vehicles is actually lowering emissions, instead of commuter cars that are used once or twice a day and stand still for 96 per cent of the time.”
Data shows renewable energy sources account for nearly 90 per cent of the electricity generation in Kenya, with the capacity exceeding demand.
“In 2024, we are looking 150 buses in operation, 50,000 electric motor cycle production capacity, and 180 megatons CO2 emission reduction,” he says.
On October 19, the company launched a 77-capacity electric public mass transit bus, which is set to operate on the Thika Superhighway, Mombasa Road and Waiyaki Way.
"This is significant as the bus can run full-day operations without a top-up charge, depending on the operator's schedule. Charging will take less than two hours," Roam said in a statement during the launch.
EFFECTS OF VEHICULAR POLLUTION
While speaking at the event, Environment PS Chris Kiptoo said the transport sector accounts for about 12 per cent of Kenya's greenhouse gas emissions.
"Over five million Kenyans living in major cities and towns are directly exposed to toxic emissions, mainly from motor vehicles," he said.
"Air pollution causes death and increases illnesses such as respiratory ailments, heart conditions, brain damage and cancers."
He said it is estimated that 14,300 Kenyans die annually due to diseases attributed to air pollution.
"The benefits of this transport option are massive. Every year, emissions of 60 tons of CO2 per bus that diesel bus options would have otherwise realised are avoided. Noise and air pollution are avoided," the PS said.
Unep’s deputy executive director Joyce Msuya previously said Kenya is importing more motorcycles than cars, doubling its fleet every seven to eight years.
Speaking when Unep launched a pilot electric bikes project at Karura Forest in 2021, she said it bodes well that most of the country’s electricity is green.
“Shifting to electric bikes in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and elsewhere will reduce costs, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as create jobs.”
During the same event, Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o said, "The average motorcycle is estimated to be 10 times more polluting per mile than a passenger car, light truck or SUV. Hydrocarbons are dangerous to human health.
“Electric motorcycles not only mitigate against this health hazard but also help to reduce the noise pollution that the rampant increase of petroleum-powered motorbikes currently causes in our cities.”
The UN agency noted that in Kenya, the number of newly registered motorcycles, commonly used as taxis (boda boda), was estimated in 2018 at 1.5 million and will likely grow to more than five million by 2030.
It further notes that although developing countries have the fastest-growing fleets of bikes, most lack vehicle emissions standards or programmes and incentives to promote zero-emission vehicles.
“A rapid global shift to electric motorcycles can result in saving 11 billion tons of carbon dioxide and about USD350 billion by 2050 (more than double the annual energy-related emissions in the US and about 14 times the 2019-20 budget of Kenya),” Unep said in a statement during the event.
Knoema, a US-based data company, says CO2 emissions for Kenya were 22.4 million tonnes in 2021.
The company indicates that CO2 emissions of Kenya increased from 3.9 million tonnes in 1972 to 22.4 million tonnes in 2021, growing at an average annual rate of 3.89 per cent.
According to a paper by Fiona Raje, Miles Tight and Francis D Pope titled ‘Traffic pollution: A search for solutions for a city like Nairobi’, the city has one of the longest average journey-to-work times in Africa.
“Heavy congestion, high rates of walking, informal collective transportation and the spatial distribution of jobs and residents lead to low employment accessibility in Nairobi and the misallocation of labour,” it says.
The paper, authored in 2018, notes that severe traffic congestion, especially during the extended peak hours, contributes to local air pollution and leads to significant economic losses in time and fuel.
“Also, the combination of deteriorating air quality and increasingly bad traffic will likely make Nairobi less attractive as a tourist gateway, thereby further putting the brakes on the economy.”