| dc.description.abstract | The city has been depicted by many urban analysts as a kind of dynamic interface
machine of movement (transport), channels of communication (including information)
links, serving activities accommodated by the settlement. Such links provide for the
needs of industrialization and commerce, encourage further economic and urban growth,
and generally increase the pace of modernization.
The rapid growth phenomena associated with Third World urbanization, that is
population increase, rising vehicle ownership and traffic volumes, increasing land use
densities and expanding urban areas have together had the effect of speeding-up urban
land use and transport interaction. Such rapid growth have also made the management of
Third World city complex, difficult and expensive as the demand for additional space for
new activities introduces severe competition for the limited land resources. Traffic
problems are often aggravated by newly constructed transport infrastructure intended to
improve accessibility which in most cases leads to the displacement of traditional means of transport, economic and commercial activities.
Cities therefore form the most complex forms of human settlements or human activity
sites. The street patterns and sites of activities are the most intricate human designs to
appear on the face of earth as mind maps of inhabitants. The measure of the functional
capability of cities is mainly determined by the effectiveness of their components and
integration there-of in the whole framework.
The public passenger transport is a fundamental urban function which can be fulfilled
better the more system oriented and systematic planning and operation is adopted. The vanous sub-components of the public passenger transport must also be efficiently
designed and equipped to deliver the necessary services without undue strain.
The study therefore aimed at examining the operation and management of the public bus
terminal facilities within the CBD of Nairobi. The study found out that the City of
Nairobi, a burgeoning African City is grossly under-served with public bus terminal
facilities and the supportive amenities. The existing terminals are mainly off-street car
parking bays converted to serve as public bus terminals. Others are alleys between
buildings or purely along traffic lanes. It was also found out that those terminals lack
most of the supportive amenities, shelter, sanitary facilities, and information display,
among others. The terminals are poorly maintained, poorly lit and insecure especially at
night.
The operations and management of the terminals especially the matatu terminals are
under the control of 'cartels' sometimes who operate in cahoots with individuals in
authority. The ad hoc operations and management of terminal points coupled with weak
managerial capacity of the Nairobi City Council is one of the critical problem that causes
appalling operations of public bus terminals.
Public transport policy guidelines are virtually non-existent and the operations of the
sector depend on the feelings of the Traffic Commandant at any particular point in time.
The routing of vehicles, provision of infrastructure, operat!~ms and management of the
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same is always done in haphazard manner. To develop, manage and maintain the public
bus terminal facilities is the responsibility of the Nairobi City Council. However, the
City Council has demonstrated its inability to effectively manage public affairs. It is notable that it is not only the public transport that is in disarray in Nairobi, rather the
entire city is ailing. The study makes proposals on possible intervention measures. | en |
