Matatus

The cheapest transportation in Kenya are called matatus.  Tatu is Swahili for 3. A long time ago there was a 3 partner car company that gave rides. Today a small bus is know as a matatu. When I was in high school they were pick up trucks with campers on the back. They had a bench down each side and wire mesh over the windows. The wire mesh on the windows was, I presume, to keep passer bys from reaching in and stealing things. It also made it much harder to get out in the event of a crash. We were strictly forbidden from ever riding in them.

Today the government regulates them a little better. They come in a variety of sizes. I'm not totally sure where a matatu ends and a bus begins. For the sake of this blog, any cheap local transportation in Kenya is a matatu. The smallest ones are cab-over flat nosed Toyota mini vans. They are generally white and have a  yellow dotted line down the side. The line is required by law.  Painted on the side it says 14 passengers (well, it actually says 14 pass). One of those 14 is the conductor. The conductor will get out at each bus stop and yell out the destination as well as the price. There are sort of customary prices but ultimately the price is whatever the conductor thinks people will pay. When someone is getting on the conductor will bang on the side of the bus so the driver doesn't pull out. The drivers often like to hurry people along by creeping forward to make it look like they are leaving so they run to get on. The conductor will bang to let the driver know someone wants off. Each guy has his own style as far as banging goes with some mixing in whistles or banging a coin on the window.


Matatus are privately owned and have no set schedule.  They generally leave certain pick up areas only if they are full but may leave the end of the line mostly empty and stop in more populated areas until full. They compete against each other and will skip stops if another company is there on the basis that they got all the passengers (unless you want off).  There have been times when a bus was too full for me and the next one just blew by as the first was leaving. During the day the wait is usually less than 5 minutes.
Notewiki says Dallas' population density is 634/sq mi vs 11,678.3/sq mi in Nairobi

At busy times or when the conductor feels safe from cops, like late at night there will be 16 people in the back and the conductor will stand in the door and lean out of the van...usually yelling out to various passer bys.

The roads are 2 lanes each way with no markings whatsoever. They are hugely overcrowded and there is a constant jostling for position. At least a third of the traffic are buses, many of which are dropping people or pulling out into traffic. The drivers actually have quiet a high level of professional consideration. They weave and bob and often drive 3 across. On roads with no medium they drive down the wrong side and make on-coming traffic scoot over. They push into lanes where there are no gaps and suck up the gaps so tight that when traffic stops, pedestrians have to turn sidewise to fit between buses. The good thing is that they do this at relatively low speeds. When an American free would have all but 2 lanes shut down for an accident they would find 4 or 5. 

From where we live it takes 2 buses to get into down town, a distance of about 9 miles. The ride costs about half a buck. After the matatu is under way the conductor collects the fair. He folds the bills length wise and wraps them between his fingers like a paper brass knuckle. The coins he keeps in his right hand and shakes them at you as if to say 'pay up sucker'.