Nairobi Metropolitan Services Director General Mohammed Badi has unveiled a new system that will be used to control bus termini in Nairobi.
Badi made the announcement after a night inspection of the Green Park Terminus on March 15, 2021, accompanied by Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya and various heads of directorates and contractors.
The system will first be piloted on the Green Park terminus at the old Railway Club whose construction is almost complete.
The system will control the movement of matatus in an orderly manner showing which vehicle has been assigned to which route and boarding time.
The information will also be displayed on a giant digital screen at the terminus for passengers to view.
“Automation of systems will also ease access to details for both PSV operators and commuters online or through an application which one can download.
“This is further aided by timed access to free WI-FI at the station. Large and DOH screens available at the station will also display route information, vehicles loading/ dropping, and queue status,” a statement from NMS read.
The Green Park Terminus will have a capacity of 300 to 350 vehicles at any one time, processing about 1,000 PSVs per hour and 20,000 PSVs per day.
"The electronic system we are going to install here (Green Park Terminus) will inform matatu operators when to send their vehicles to town and when their slot is ready.
"They will know it from an app on their phone, that from their route, only five or six vehicles should come into town. So it will be regulated," NMS Director of Transport, Engineer Michael Ochieng explained.
After alighting at the drop-off, bay commuters will be able to walk along the non-motorised transport section to town or if still on transit, proceed to the pickup bay through a path complete with roofing to protect from inclement weather.
The terminus also hosts an equipped level 2 hospital, a police post, supermarket and eateries.
