Thank
you to our friends at the International Bicycle Fund
for providing and maintaining this web site.Pan Africa Bicycle Information Network (PABIN)
DEVELOPMENT-KENYA:
From Petrol Power to Peddle Power
Inter Press Service
April 27, 2006
by 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 peddle 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." (FIN/2006)
Thank
you to our friends at the International Bicycle Fund
for providing and maintaining this web site.