Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (NAMATA) pushed forward the date for launching the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system along Thika Road in Nairobi.
Speaking on Friday, October 7, NAMATA director general, Francis Gitau, noted that contractors expected the project to be unveiled around June 2023.
A recent feasibility study, Gitau stated, detailed that contractors can actualise the project that was touted to solve the city traffic menace in nine months if provided with enough resources.
Initially, BRT was set to be operational starting June 2022, but its implementation faced headwinds.
"If the resources are available, it can be done in six months. But the contractor has looked at our resource planning, and in the worst-case scenario, the project will be completed in nine months," Gitau stated.
He blamed the stalling of the Ksh5.6 billion project on the failure of the national treasury to remit funds on time. At the moment, NAMATA required north of Ksh3 billion to finalise the project constructed along Thika Road.
The procurement of 100 buses to be used in the pilot phase of the project also stalled. However, Gitau exuded confidence in the vehicles being delivered before the much-anticipated launch.
Fare policy will be based on the distance covered by commuters once the buses are delivered and projected completed.
"In the city, if you look at the Commuter Railway Services to Embakasi, it costs about Ksh40. But the BRT fare policy will be distance-based," he insisted.
This comes just a week after Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) officers travelled to Tanzania to benchmark Dar Rapid Transit (DART) operations. KURA hopes to replicate the success of the project in Kenya.
KURA's engineer, Jacinta Mwangi, noted that the team would borrow implementation and bus operational policies from Tanzania.
"The team intends to learn the effective implementation of DART system which traverses Dar es Salaam and how it was executed," DART administrators added.
