Moja Expressway on Wednesday, April 5, explained the ban of matatus from using the Nairobi Expressway.
The company was responding after the Motorists Association of Kenya (MAK) intensified pressure to have Public Service Vehicles (PSVs) ply the 27-kilometre stretch.
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Jeane May, Head of Communications at Moja Expressway noted that the company was not directly involved in lifting the ban.
“The ban was put in place by the Ministry of Transport and not Moja Expressway.
“As such, any discussion aimed at lifting the ban can only be handled by the Transport Ministry,” she told Kenyans.co.ke.
MAK in a statement had registered its displeasure that PSVs were banned from using the road terming the move as discriminatory.
“Let matatus use the expressway. Public transport is important too.
“The exclusive usage of the road by private vehicles is unfair considering the road took our public median meant for BRT lane and light rail,” the association lamented.
On how matatus should ply on the route, the association suggested that Moja Expressway dedicate a lane for PSVs.
The government through the then Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia banned matatus from using the road in July 2022.
"We temporarily restrict commercial passenger vehicles with a capacity of more than seven passengers from using the Nairobi expressway," the CS announced back then.
The ban was necessitated by a series of fatal accidents involving PSVs which were linked to careless driving.
Since the ban, the number of accidents on the expressway drastically reduced making it one of the safest roads in the country.
