Transportation

I love Kenya, but if I could snap my fingers and instantly change one thing about Kenya, it would be the public transportation. The only thing I like about it is the price....when you don't get charged the muzungu price. In the last few weeks, I have been really quite lucky with public transport. I've been able to catch busses without too much trouble and have made it safely to all my destinations. These last few days, have not been quite as lucky. 

Usually, I ride the Citi Hoppa busses. I can catch the 4W from my neighborhood and ride to Junction (the closest mall to our house) and to the city center. It typically costs 20 Kenyan shillings (20 U.S. Cents) per ride. If you go to cit center, it can cost 50. Still. Not bad. I have not had any truly bad experiences on the Citi Hoppa. Other volunteers have been pick pocketed. This past week however, I had my first experience with a terrible conductor. Every bus has a driver and a conductor. The conductor is responsible for collected fares from passengers and signaling the driver to stop to let people off. A few days ago, I got charged extra and the conductor didn't stop the bus at the stop I requested. Ugh. There are very few official bus stops and you can flag a bus down if it passing you want to get on. There are other busses like he blue aka as busses and City Shuttle, but they don't serve my neighborhood. 

The primary mode of public transport are the matatus. These are mini busses/"14" passenger vans. I say 14 very loosely. It's not uncommon for the. To be so packed that the door doesn't close and the conductor is barely inside the van. Matatus are also really inexpensive and the price varies depending on the distance. I hate riding in matatus. Unfortunately, they go more places than the busses do. I have not been pick pocketed in a matatu, but many volunteers and Kenyans end up loosing valuables on matatus. I will wait extra time for a bus, before taking a matatu. matatu drivers rarely follow the rules of the road. It's not uncommon to see drivers passing each other and honking incessantly just to make slightly better time. 

In my opinion, the WORST type of public transport are the big matatus. We have begun calling the 

big matatus the "party busses." If you get on, again prepare for them the be packed. You will also likely be deaf from the booming music and want to gouge your eyes out after wat hing vulgar music videos. They are the "cool" busses. One day, I had 2 bad experiences and have sworn never to ride one again. They first one of the day was coming back to city center from elephants. It was a long drive so we expected to pay 50-100 shillings. The conductor charged us 200 and the rest of the passengers 100 - just because we were muzungus. You can't really argue or you risk being thrown off the bus, so we paid it anyway. Later in the day we got on another one. We told the conductor where we were going and he confirmed. Part way into the ride, we noticed we were going the wrong way so we asked again and he said yes. A little further down he road, he proceeded to tell us to get off. We were no where near home. We ended up walking for about an hour and half, winding our way toward our house. Not fun. All we could do was laugh. At least we got good exercise and it was daylight!

The last mode of public transport (besides taxis and private drivers) is the piki piki. These are little motor bikes. By law the driver is supposed to wear a helmet, jacket, and reflective vest and is supposed to provide the passengers with the same. This law is rarely (if ever) enforced. My dad told me not to use the piki piki drivers, because they often speed and swerve in and out of traffic and are involved in many accidents, however, there are places you just can't get to on other forms of transport  - you would have to walk. Amanda and I have ridden a few piki piki. And have 2 favorite drivers. We like the drivers who go slower than most and who don't jerk us around. When we go to see Jane, we have to piki piki otherwise the walk is about 45 minutes each way. We also would have to walk through a neighborhood that isn't as safe fo foreingers. We have two rules for ourselves when we ride, wear pants and choose a driver who looks to be at least 30 or older. The young ones like to show off their muzungu passengers and tend to drive much faster than we like!