Many years after the invention of the wheel came Matatus in Kenya (read the origin here). Matatu, (from a previous post.) - As many of you may
recall, Kenya Bus Service used to be the only mode of transport in the city of
Nairobi for a long time. I wasn’t born then. A number of entrepreneurs felt it
not right for Kenya Bus Company to rule the scenes in public transport. Then,
transport was mainly from Nairobi Eastlands where majority Africans lived. So,
a few people came up with ideas and started private transport services and
charged Ksh.30cents only, to any place you travelled within Nairobi. This served
as much help to poor African workers who trekked by foot to work from Eastlands’
estates such as Hamza, Makadara, Maringo, Mbotela and other places to town. Ksh.30cents
in Kikuyu dialect is Mang’otore Matatu thus
the name Matatu.
When we were kids, just the other day after introduction of multi-partisim in Kenya, deep down on the slopes of Mt.Kenya were Kings of the roads namely the miraa pick ups, Nissan caravans and Peugeot 504s and 404s matatus. You wouldn't mention them all and forget to mention their Mother Riakanau the bus.
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| One of Riakanau buses |
Riakanau was an ugly bus thats was as fast a new hero jet bicycle. Its journies began at cock's crow. It took not less than five hours to get to Nairobi from Embu. It cat drove along Nairobi - Embu Highway like it had the whole day at its disposal. Its fares were always a third of the normal fare charged by other matatus of the day. It was a darling of my fellow rural folks of villages of Kirinyaga and beyond. The bus had a wide clientele - if it was not a sack of dry maize at the roof carrier, it was a sack of sweet potatoes on the roof carrier...if it was not group of several bewildered goats tied together on the roof carrier, it was a number of calves and chicken mashed together at the rear boot...if it was not an expectant mother fighting for breath at the rear seat of the bus, it was the village shopkeeper with a bloated stomach seated in the front passeger seat reading an old newspaper...If it was not strangers trying to know one another in the middle, it was the local teachers of the booze deliberating how they would pass by Njuguna's for two for the road before catching the bus back home. The bus was always full house.
Rumour has it, at some instances, when the bus encountered tough hills, men and women had to alight first to ease weight of the bus till it tackled the hill, leaving only the sick, elderly and children in the bus.
As much as that translates to pure discomfort, complains regarding its services and conduct of the bus crew were rarely heard. First the bus crew was disciplined. The crew were well known fellas from the villages their customers hailed from...They bus company knew and respected their customers and their customers came first...and finally, customers had no other choice, it was the only affordable choice to and from the city. Hail Riakanau the 'Legend'.
