Kibera matatu crews have clarified to residents that they are not planning to reduce bus fares as many have been anticipating.
They said the public has been informed that if petrol prices reduced then fare charges are bound to reduce as well.
“People should understand that most of our vehicles use diesel and not petrol. According to the new prices announced by the Energy Regulation Commission, diesel increased by Sh2.44 while super petrol reduced by Sh 9.36 per litre. This clearly shows that we should have increased the fares rather than reduce,” said Hassan Mohamed, Kibera-Lindi Sacco chairman in an interview at their office in Makina-Kibera.
“As Kibera-Lindi Sacco, we still insist that the fare charges will remain the same because we have found no reason why we should do the contrary. We have a structure that we follow and at no given point do we charge excess fares,” said Mohamed.
He raised concerns over the continuous fluctuations in fuel prices that affect the transport sector.
“This year alone, we have experienced fluctuation of fuel prices like three times. This can sometimes give problems especially when it changes to our disadvantage. This is why we see no reason to keep changing the fares because we would be forced to do the same many times,” he added.
Kibera-Lindi Sacco is a union of public service vehicles plying the Makina-Undugu route in Kibera and charges ranging between Sh10 and Sh30.