Madam Unaenda? ( Madam are you going?) — The tout calls out to me from the stage.
I shout — Yes!
As I start to approach the matatu — before getting in I ask the tout,
Ngapi? (How much?).
Once we agree on the rate he then proceeds to push me into the matatu (mini-van) before I can even sit the matatu has started moving and inertia pushes me to the seat. I gather myself and cosy up for my journey to work and start playing one of my favourite podcasts. The journey is going well and we are about to get to the Ngara terminus. My anxiety starts kicking in, and my mind starts racing…
Will this matatu even reach town?
I have gone through this experience several times, so I start to prepare for the worst, I stop my podcast and get ready to be offloaded in the wrong terminus. The matatu stops at the Ngara terminus and half of the passengers alight. The tout proceeds to alert the driver that the passengers are not that many. He then asks us to get out so that he can offload us in the matatu behind us.
I alight with the remaining passengers and head to the matatu we have been offloaded to. Our tout negotiates with the other tout and he pays our fare and leaves us. When I get into the matatu I realise that it is full, and the tout will not carry excess. I am left stranded because the first matatu I was in has already disappeared. On top of the fare that I had paid to be taken to Nairobi CBD, I had to top up some more money. My only choice is to get another matatu, which I have to pay more money for, ruining my transport budget for the week.
These are my real daily frustrations with the public transport system in the country. If I am not being dropped off at the wrong terminus, I am being sexually harassed, fighting for space to sit in a full matatu, paying more than I usually pay because of rain/slight drizzle or fighting to get my change back from touts. In summary, public commutes are filled with confusion, anxiety, drama and inconvenience.
Therefore, when I caught wind of SWVL a new digital disruptor in public transport offering comfort and convenience. I was sold on the idea because, in the more than 10 years of using public transport in this country, it was never convenient or pleasant. Therefore, an alternative to dignifying my commute was extremely appealing to me. Its entry into the market, however, has not been taken well by authorities and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) recently froze its license to operate, along with Little Shuttle. You would expect NTSA to freeze the licenses of disorderly matatus instead they target a new system showing Kenyans how public transport should be run.
I downloaded the SWVL application from my app store, registered for the service and was ready to abandon matatus. However, this new application was charging KES 200 from my home area to the Nairobi CBD. KES 200 is the minimum charge for using their services. Personally, that cost was too high for me, and I had to settle with continuing to use matatus.
Fortunately, a couple of months ago, I got an offer from SWVL offering me a code for 6 free rides. Finally! an opportunity to try out this new mode of public transportation. I input my pick-up location which is a few metres away from my workplace. I work in an uppity area which does not allow public transportation, therefore I have to walk for 10–15-minutes to get to my pick-up location.
My first trip on SWVL was scheduled for 5:45p.m, I made sure I left the office at 5:00 p.m. to ensure I did not miss my bus. When I got to the stage I saw a lot of other commuters waiting for their SWVLs — you could tell there were fellow SWVLers because they were all on their mobile devices keeping track of their bus. The application shares the driver’s name & picture bus model and number plates. My SWVL showed up at around 6:20 p.m. I did not complain, after all, I was not using a matatu. The bus was a coaster which had ample sitting space, I had enough room to spread my legs and relax unlike a matatu, and there was no tout to push me into the bus, which waits until everyone is seated to start moving. Each rider has a unique boarding pass number, once you enter the bus you have to share your number with the driver who then confirms you have boarded. Despite the bus being late, I loved everything about the SWVL experience; the nice and kind drivers, the comfort and the convenience of where it dropped me.
After I exhausted my 6 free rides, I started getting promotion codes for KES 50 bob rides. Which is a considerably fair price. They are passengers who live in Ruaka and work in Westlands who thanks to SWVL do not have to make two stops to connect matatus to get to their workplace, because SWVL will directly take them from Ruaka to Westlands and some even as far as Ngong Road.
SWVL is not perfect, it still has some flaws it needs to work on if it wants to disrupt the matatu industry. Some of these are:
- The app will randomly crash and make it hard for you to track your bus or access your trip details.
- The app will sometimes not show the bus on the map.
- Some drivers will go off route and inconvenience passengers dropping off in specific stages, I wrote about it on this Twitter Post.
- The lack of timely customer service support. My complaint from last week’s incident has still not been addressed.
- Drivers will sometimes come late, and SWVL will not let you know in advance. They do however compensate you KES 100 when you get to your destination late.
- The use of 14 seater minivans which have been split into four sections of seating space like matatus, if you are selling comfort then the matatu style minivans are not it.
- Some drivers will miss stops because they do not interact much with the app. I have had several cases where the bus missed me while I was at the stage because I assumed they knew where each passenger was waiting. In one such incident, I remember calling the driver to ask him to stop at my pick-up location and he came zooming past me. I had to call and let him know that he had missed me, luckily he turned back to come to pick me up but in the middle of his turn, he was ambushed by police for making an illegal turn. The whole bus was impounded and we had to find another means of transport.
- You can only book a maximum of 3 rides on the app, which can make you miss your preferred timings for pick up.
- The app on IOS does not show whether a ride is full beforehand like on an Android device.
- Some drivers are starting to get cheeky and leave passengers without calling them or stopping at their specific pick-up locations.
- It does not operate on some routes during the weekends.
- The available routes are only in Nairobi and Kiambu counties.
SWVL is changing my outlook on public transport, and how a transport system that works should operate. The matatu industry has still not been completely disrupted because SWVL has not reached the larger masses but it is only a matter of time.
*Disclaimer: These are my personal views on my SWVL experience.
