People aboard buses at a Nairobi bus station. [Photo/ alamy.com]Commuters traveling upcountry for Christmas will pay heavily to reach their destinations following a significant increase in bus fare.Different companies have hiked fares as demand for transport outstrips the number of vehicles on the road in one week to Christmas.According to the Nation, a 14-sitter shuttle to Eldoret is now charging Sh1,200 up from Sh700 with those heading to Kitale charging Sh1,500 up from Sh900 in October. Mombasa-bound buses are charging Sh1,800 between Mombasa and Nairobi up from Sh1,200 in October.The Coast-based buses are making a killing after months of low business following the launch of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in June, which took a huge chunk of travellers.SGR trains are fully booked between now and December 31, an event that has seen buses use the opportunity to capitalise on stranded passengers.However Easy Coach has retained fares in all the routes it plies, coming as a relief to passengers. The company is charging Sh1,200 between Nairobi and Eldoret, Sh1,300 from Nairobi to Kitale, Sh900 from the capital city to Homa Bay and Sh1,450 to Busia.“We have had to be considerate of our customers, we do not want to increase fares just to make quick cash out of it; we don’t want to burden them when they are already grappling with high cost of living,” Managing director Azym Dossa told the Nation on Sunday.Dossa said his buses were fully booked between now and December 25, but the firm is creating room for additional five buses every day.According to the firm, the demand for upcountry travel has been high to an extent that on Thursday night they had 43 buses heading to western Kenya.

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