The transport system in Kenya, I do not know how to express it in one word except perilous.
Yes I used a big word that means the same as dangerous but I think that it deserves it.
How we ever get any where only God knows.
From being stuffed seven people in a tuk tuk that was probably meant for three people to having four people plus the driver on a motorcycle, the sector is going south.
Those are just a few examples, the last time I went home I saw people board a probox and seat about three in the boot.
This overcrowding is primarily lead by people's need to pay less fare and the drivers need to make more money. Sometimes it is just because there are no other means of transportation available.
When you board a bus to the estates in Nairobi, it is better because you do not have to squeeze each other in, but that is as good as it gets.
First you have to learn the skill of standing in a moving bus because you cannot call out your stage from the back and wait for the bus to stand before you stand.
Second you have to learn the skill of alighting from a slightly moving bus in traffic. This is an art really and a really important one if you want to get anywhere in time.
Third is the skill of listening to loud music that sometimes resonates into your heart. I thought the doctors said we cannot listen to really loud music or we will go deaf but somehow am still here. I think my hearing is even getting better. Hell I can hear a thief coming before he gets to me, that is a skill I will talk about in a later article.
Fourth never carry the exact amount of money for your fare because you never know how much the fare would be. Today you go to town its 30 shillings, you are happy. The next day you go at the exact same time to the exact same stage but simply because its drizzling the fare is now 100. Seriously!
Last but most importantly the skill of holding your handbag or bag just right. When you are in a jam and you do not hold your handbag, it will go out the window so fast before you even blink. When you are trying to alight from a moving bus or move in a moving bus you have to make sure the handbag is held just right or else you will end up smacking everyone on your way to the door.
I have been smacked severally and I know I have smacked a fair share of people myself.
So when you are in public transportation the probability of being smacked with a bag to that of not being smacked is one to one.
But like they say living in Nairobi is a skill and an art that has to be learnt.
I hope I survive it.
I hope we all survive it.
Adios.
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