Kisumu City has banned Matatus from the Central Business District (CBD) after the completion of a peripheral bus terminus.
According to Daily Nation, matatus using the Kisumu Boys High School roundabout will be transferred to Nyamasaria Bus Terminus whose construction was recently completed.
Acting City Manager Abala Wanga noted that the ban would take effect beginning Monday, March 15, 2021.
He further noted that there were stipulated routes that matatus would be expected to use to access the recently constructed stage.
The city also directed that all operators who flout the directives risked having the vehicles impounded by the county government.
The project, which is aimed at significantly reducing traffic in the CBD, cost Ksh99.8 million and is set to host matatus from Nairobi, Kisii, Homa Bay, Migori and Kericho.
The new change will force bus firms to look for offices within the Nyamasaria terminus.
The county government also directed the county police boss, the city inspectorate director and city engineer to enforce the new directive.
This development comes in the same month that the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) is preparing to ban matatus from Nairobi CBD.
NMS boss Mohammed Badi made the announcement in February after making breakthroughs with the construction of several termini in the city.
Badi had on multiple occasions postponed the plan to relocate PSVs from the CBD as he was racing against time to complete Green Park terminus and also convince matatu operators and boda boda riders to comply.
Construction at the Green Park terminus, which is located at the Railways Club, is now complete awaiting commissioning.
NMS unveiled a dispensary at the terminus along Haile Selassie Avenue, Nairobi. The agency equipped it with additional medical equipment and beds which would be used for emergency cases at the terminus.
The terminus is expected to serve matatus plying Ngong Road and Lang'ata Road.
