DEVELOPMENT-KENYA:
From Petrol Power to Pedal Power
Darren Taylor
NAIROBI, Apr 26 (IPS) - Minibus taxis, referred to as "matatus", have
long been a ubiquitous feature of the Kenyan landscape, providing
transport in cities - and linking urban and rural areas.
Operated by drivers who are notorious for their disregard of road
safety, matatus can make the lives of other motorists a living hell.
African cities are choked with thousands of the taxis - some decrepit,
others emitting noxious fumes - each competing for limited space and
money.
Matatu owners know taxis are often the sole means of transport for
people, many of whom are too impoverished ever to own a car. But, while
this scenario is still in effect in many parts of the East African
country, a revolution is underway in western Kenya: bicycle taxis are
replacing motorised vehicles, their passengers perched on padded seats
positioned above the back wheel.
"People still use us to travel far distances, but in the towns we no
longer do a good trade. I used to get most of my money from transporting
people in town, but now this is no more," says Samuel Abuka, a self-
described "total entrepreneur" who has seen his once-thriving minibus
taxi business approach bankruptcy.
"People do not want to go with matatus anymore. They prefer the
bicycles because they are cheaper and faster," he grimaces, dusting off
the grey pin-striped suit which envelops his pencil-thin frame while he
eats at a restaurant in the heart of Kisumu, a small city on the shores
of Lake Victoria in western Kenya.
It costs a mere 20 shillings (less than half a dollar) to travel
across Kisumu on a bicycle; matatu rates are double that. And, bikes are
everywhere - the ringing of their bells and the crunch of wheels on dirt
the dominant sounds in towns and villages lining the brown lake.
Locals call them "boda bodas"; the name is a play on the English
word "border", explains Charles Omondi, a bicycle taxi owner in Kendu
Bay. "Some years ago, the bikes started coming into Kenya from Uganda, at
the border. So people started calling them boda bodas," he laughs.
Bicycle taxis are painted in a kaleidoscope of colours. Many are
decorated with ribbons and flags which blow in the breeze as the boda
bodas accelerate to their destinations; others are inscribed with
religious slogans such as "God is Love", or with the name of the owner's
favourite English soccer team.
Still others offer logos that are simply weird - like Obbo Oketch's
bicycle taxi in Homa Bay, which he has emblazoned with purple and orange
flames, under which is written: "The Israel Vibration Team". The
youngster can't - or won't - explain the meaning of this inscription.
Men and women in suits, ready for a day at the office and shouting
instructions into cell phones, and school children in crisp uniforms are
some of the boda boda owners' main customers - as are women carrying
huge bags of maize, and fishermen transporting their daily catch. No load
seems too heavy, or too clumsy, for the adept bicycle riders.
All of this has been enough to convince Davis Onyango that the writing
is on the wall.
"I want to sell my matatu and buy lots of boda bodas. That is the way
I can survive in the future," he reasons.
Like many other minibus taxi owners in western Kenya, Onyango has been
trying to make a profit by transporting people to the capital, Nairobi,
500 kilometres from Kisumu. But the wear and tear on his vehicle -
courtesy of terrible roads - is resulting in "big losses," he says. "And
a matatu can only travel to Nairobi once a day."
Onyango's brother, Peter Owidi, has already made the quantum leap
backwards, from petrol power to pedal power. His muscles bulge as he
weaves his way through the streets of Kisumu on his newly-acquired
bicycle. Sweat pours from his bare chest.
"The people, they like using us boda bodas. We get them to work and
school much faster, because we do not get stuck in the traffic," Owidi
wheezes.
As he whizzes across a congested intersection, a matatu driver swears
loudly. Owidi guffaws in delight.
According to the Fourth National Human Development Report for
Kenya, 'Linking Industrialisation with Human Development' (issued last
year by the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP), industrial
advances that have lowered bike costs in Kenya prompted the resurgence of
bicycles. High rates of joblessness pushed many to consider working in
the bicycle taxi sector, as it was - says the agency - "an enterprise
opportunity with low entry barriers."
By 2000, adds the report, there were 5,000 bicycle taxis in Kisumu -
with operators earning about three dollars a day for their pains (not bad
in a country where about a fifth of the population lives on less than a
dollar a day, according to figures issued by the UNDP last year).
The growth in bicycle taxis has also benefited people in rural areas
who have been able to reach clinics, schools and the like.
Bicycle usage is not without its problems: there are no tracks for
bikes in Kenya, for instance, and many cyclists are killed by speeding
vehicles.
But Owidi sees no difficulties - only dreams.
"There is lots of traffic in Nairobi. Maybe I can expand my business
there!" he exclaims, his eyes gleaming at the prospect of making a mint
in one of Africa's largest cities.
Jeffrey Otieno, standing alongside his cycle, thinks he's already made
it.
"I never, ever thought I could have my own company," Otieno says. "I
am happy. My children are eating." (END/2006)
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