City Hall says boda bodas to get new pick up points

The Nairobi County government has moved a step closer in streamlining boda boda operations in the city by identifying locations which will be used as passenger pick-up points.

County Roads and Transport Executive Hitan Majevdia said the county government is in the process of putting up six boda boda sheds to act as designated holding ground for use by the motorcycle riders.

“We have got a partner who has agreed to collaborate with us to build the sheds and we have identified six locations around the city centre for the exercise. We are ready with everything and we are just waiting for the official announcement from Governor Mike Sonko. The boda boda operators are already using one of the sites so we will just come and put up the shed,” said Mr Majevdia on Tuesday.

DESIGNATED STAGES

Mr Majevdia explained that the sheds will be fixed in sites on the periphery of the city centre and will act as designated stages, like bus stops, for boda boda riders as they wait for customers. The riders will operate on a first-in-first-out basis.

“There is no point of boda bodas parking in the CBD yet there are no customers. They will now drop passengers and then go back to the sheds because at the moment our askaris are after them whenever they access the CBD,” he said.

City Hall banned boda bodas from accessing the city centre in March last year and, since then, over 4,000 motorbikes have been impounded in crackdown on non-compliant operators.

Mr Majevdia said that some of the six locations where the boda boda sheds will be erected are Landi Mawe, Railways, Globe Cinema Roundabout and Kariokor, among others. The sheds will hold between 20 and 80 riders.

SPACE

The county executive said that the sheds will have a place to sit, space for the riders to put their helmets and vests and allow them to also have a water dispenser, though at their own cost.

“The sheds will be built at a workshop and then brought to the locations. The floors on the other hand will be carpeted using cabros. We are planning to fix all of them in a single day,” he said.

This is in addition to coming up with designated roads which can be used by the boda bodas in a bid to bring to an end the cat-and-mouse game between the riders and county inspectorate officers at the city centre.

ROADS FOR RIDERS

Mr Majevdia said that City Hall engineers are in the process of coming up with a sketch of the roads the riders can use within the CBD.

“We will officially announce which streets they can use once the sketch is ready. We will give it to their association which will in turn give it to them,” he said.

The Roads executive said that implementation of the plans are geared at helping the county government rid the city centre of boda bodas as well as giving them a chance to self-regulate.

“We are trying to let them to regulate themselves and if they don’t, then we will come in,” said Mr Majevdia.