Western Kenyan travelers are some of the most disadvantaged in the country.
For starters, their bus station is tucked at the most crowded, dirtiest bottom part of Nairobi city. Those who can afford a shuttle-service catch them at some back alley off Haile Selassie, so squeezed like they don’t matter in the national elections.
A few lucky saccos have one or two parking lots along Mfangano Street. The rest must cross over to Railways to catch Easy Coach, but for the poorer, they must trudge further to the Machakos County Bus risking being mugged, ran over or conned along the way.
It is always too much work.
Now, for the longest time, you had to go physically to book for your ticket. Easy Coach at least has branches spread around towns, mostly in Uchumi Supermarkets where you could book, but we all know the sad story of Uchumi Supermarkets.
During Christmas and end month weekends, the situation gets doubly worse the booking gets messy, and the vehicles available become limited. It is not uncommon to push your journey to the next day or wake up at an ungodly hour in order to catch the bus.
But all these problems are changing. As more and more people embrace BuuPass, the new bus booking website that sorts one of the biggest nightmares of travel in Kenya.
According to the first winner of the BuuPass Survey, Allan Marigi, the booking site was long overdue and has changed the game.
“It is super great and convenient at no extra cost,” he says. Previously, he had to come to town a day earlier to book the bus, then head back to Thika where he stays. But now he can book with his phone via *877# from the comfort of his home.
“I saw the ad in Hivisasa, clicked on the site, and was taken to the booking page where I selected my starting point (Nairobi) and Destination (Mbale) and paid via MPESA,” he explains.
On the day of traveling, he went directly to the Easy Coach bus station at the departure time and his reserved seat was waiting for him.
As more travelers learn about the BuuPass booking site, their traveling will be more convenient, not encumbered by the hassle of navigating thousands of people in order to get to your bus or shuttle only to find them all overbooked and you have to wait for 4-6 hours until those making a return trip arrive.