When commuters had to travel far distances on foot to get to the Central Business District, some Kenyans criticised the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) for bad design (CBD).
Others said that other modes of transportation for Kenyans with disabilities and those who are ill should have been available (PWDs).
“Were just frustrated, they should have left us at the Railways terminus. If someone gets off here, they have to pay Sh100 more to board a boda boda to town and they have used the same amount from home and the day has not yet begun,” one of the commuters stated.
“They should have left us where we were. Here there is even no one to carry and we will lose out in profits especially with the price of fuel going up,” another PSV operator stated.
NMS Transport Director, Engineer Micheal Ochieng, stated that they had developed various plans to address congestion at the terminus adding that no vehicle was to take more than 20 minutes at the park
He added that they had dedicated some lanes for entry and exit to avoid the movement of matatu’s at Green Park from affecting traffic flow on other roads.
“The other key item we have done is that PSVs have their own dedicated lane and you will realise that they are not interfering with the other vehicles on the road,” he stated.
Matatu Owners Association Chairman Simon Kimutai however protested the relocation of matatus plying Ngong and Mombasa roads to the completed multi-million Green Park terminus.
“The terminus is placed next to major roads i.e. hailesalasie and Uhuru Highway so traffic spills here very fast especially during rush hours hence spreading to other major roads. MOA was never involved at all neither any other association,” he stated.
“The park cannot function the way it is even test running is done a thousand times. It can only work if the terminus can be shifted to the other end of the park. They should stop wasting time and disrupting our business. They owe Nairobians an apology for wasting taxpayers money.”