Metro Trans East Africa in partnership with the National Bank of Kenya unveiled a new fleet of 25 buses that will ply through different routes in the city of Nairobi and upcountry travels to facilitate public transportation.
The company went for the Mitsubishi Fuso FE85 models sold by local vendor Simba Corporation.
Metro Trans Chief Executive Officer Oscar Rosanna revealed to journalists that the company would be expecting another 55 more buses from the assembler to add to their fleet.
“It has not been an easy ride for the company to acquire the buses as they were forced to lag back a little especially after the covid aftermath then came the ban on scrap metal which made the building of the body of the unveiled buses take more time than expected,” Rosanna said.
The buses have been purchased at a cost of Ksh.398 million in both their second and third phases after their first phase cost Ksh.120 million.
The company has also partnered with SWVL, a global provider of transformative tech-enabled mass transit solutions as part of reforms towards the matatu sector.
“We are not working alone on this as they have been able to bring on board a ride-hailing app called swvl and together he says they would want to change the so much spoken about matatu industry that has been in the past known for there notorious ways to the customers,” said Metro Trans Group Director Harun Ndung’u.
It is a turnaround move by the Public Service Vehicle (PSV) operator after the matatu sector was adversely hit by COVID-19 protocols since the advent of the virus in March 2020.
Despite the shortcoming, Kenya’s transportation and storage sector posted a 7.2 percent growth in 2021 rebounding from a 7.8 percent decline in 2020.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Economic Survey 2021 attributed the growth to the easing of movement restrictions imposed to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
