Nairobi . A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has lauded the bodaboda for employing over 5,000 people with each taking home about Sh250 per day in Kisumu Town.

The Fourth Kenya Human Development report says the growth of the bicycle taxis, commonly referred to as bodaboda, has been phenomenal in western Kenya.

The Fourth Kenya Human Development report says the growth of the bicycle taxis, commonly referred to as bodaboda, has been phenomenal in western Kenya.

The report says that by 2,000 there were 5,000 bicycle taxis operating in Kisumu Town with each transporting about 10 people per day.

The report says the bicycles have evolved into a mass transport method in many parts of western Kenya and improved rural people's access to crucial facilities like health and schools.

It states the bicycles have lowered the cost of transport and that most people find them reliable.

Bicycles, the report states, are an efficient rural-urban linkage because passengers use them to access paved roads.

In places where bicycles are not in use, people spend substantial amounts of their incomes and take long hours to reach urban areas for services.

The report says public transport in villages is often of poor quality and unsafe.

However, a non-governmental organisation, the National Road Safety Agency, says the town has an estimated 14,000 bicycle taxis with decreasing income of about Sh100 to Sh140 per day.