Bus operators welcome SGR fare rise set for April

[Geza Ulole]

Bus operators welcome SGR fare rise set for April
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2018 22:00
BY BONFACE OTIENO

The plan by the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) to withdraw the standard gauge rail (SGR) promotional fares in the next two months has been welcomed by owners and managers of bus companies operating between Nairobi and Mombasa as competition shifts to quality of service.

On Friday, Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina said the fares would be adjusted to Sh1,200 from Sh700 after approval by the Transport Ministry, coming to level with bus charges.

The Sh3,000 fare for first-class passengers on the train which has been operational since last June will, however, remain the same in the new fare regime.

The buses had earlier decried the rock bottom SGR fares, which they saw as a threat to their businesses.

“We welcome the move. It will be upon passengers to choose on the mode of transport to use when travelling between the two towns,” Mash East Africa general manager Lenox Shallo told theBusiness Daily, adding the new tariffs would result in fair competition in the market.

Coast Bus owner and managing director Ajaz Mizra said the move was in the right direction, adding that review of SGR fares was long overdue.

He said Kenya Railways should have set the right price from the onset to avoid price disruption, which may send a number of their customers back to buses.

“This is a move in the right direction that should have started as early as yesterday”, he said

The 472-kilometre standard gauge railway line between Mombasa and Nairobi was constructed at a cost of Sh327 billion. It was co-financed by commercial and semi-concessional loans from China and the Government of Kenya.

READ: Kenya Railways seeks to raise SGR fare to Sh1,200

Nairobi and Mombasa are the main termini of the ultra-modern SGR line with another 31 stations in-between.

They include seven intermediate stations in Mariakani, Miasenyi, Voi, Mtito-Andei, Kibwezi, Emali and Athi- River where the Inter-County train has been making five-minute stop-overs as it snakes to either Nairobi or Mombasa, travelling at 120 kilometres per hour.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in May directed the fares be subsidised at Sh700 for an economy class ticket and Sh3,000 for passengers travelling first-class between Nairobi-Mombasa.

This was a reduction from the initial Sh900 which had been announced early by Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet secretary James Macharia.

Bus operators welcome SGR fare rise set for April

 

[joto la jiwe]

Ina maana Uhuru Kenyatta alipowatangazia wananchi kwamba nauli itakuwa 700 alikuwa anadanganya?

 

[mulisaaa]

Kenyans nima shithole
Another failed state.

 

[pingli-nywee]

Someni vizuri hapo kwenye sentensi ya kwanza. 'Promotional fares'. Kama hamjaelewa vizuri, sitajisumbua, google translate inawahusu. Kusoma taarifa ya mada vizuri kabla ya kuruka kwenye comment ni kitu cha muhimu sana.

 

[joto la jiwe]

Someni vizuri hapo kwenye sentensi ya kwanza. 'Promotional fares'. Kama hamjaelewa vizuri, sitajisumbua, google translate inawahusu. Kusoma taarifa ya mada vizuri kabla ya kuruka kwenye comment ni kitu cha muhimu sana.

Hiyo promotion fare ndiyo inasemwa hivi sasa, lakini Uhuru Kenyatta alipokua anazindua alisema nauli itakuwa 700 sio zaidi ya hapo ili wananchi wengi waweze kumudu hizo nauli, acheni kubadilisha gear angani. Lengo la usafiri wa reli na hasa unaomilikiwa na serikali ni kuwa wa bei nafuu sana ukilinganisha na ule wa barabara, kama gharama zitakaribiana ba zile za barabara, lengo na madhumuni ya kuhenga reli inakua haipo tena. Kenya is a failed state indeed.

 

[pingli-nywee]

Hiyo promotion fare ndiyo inasemwa hivi sasa, lakini Uhuru Kenyatta alipokua anazindua alisema nauli itakuwa 700 sio zaidi ya hapo ili wananchi wengi waweze kumudu hizo nauli, acheni kubadilisha gear angani. Lengo la usafiri wa reli na hasa unaomilikiwa na serikali ni kuwa wa bei nafuu sana ukilinganisha na ule wa barabara, kama gharama zitakaribiana ba zile za barabara, lengo na madhumuni ya kuhenga reli inakua haipo tena. Kenya is a failed state.

Keep calm, and keep on watching us fail, to higher heights!

 

[MTOCHORO]

Hiyo promotion fare ndiyo inasemwa hivi sasa, lakini Uhuru Kenyatta alipokua anazindua alisema nauli itakuwa 700 sio zaidi ya hapo ili wananchi wengi waweze kumudu hizo nauli, acheni kubadilisha gear angani. Lengo la usafiri wa reli na hasa unaomilikiwa na serikali ni kuwa wa bei nafuu sana ukilinganisha na ule wa barabara, kama gharama zitakaribiana ba zile za barabara, lengo na madhumuni ya kuhenga reli inakua haipo tena. Kenya is a failed state indeed.

Kutoka Schenzen hadi Guanzhou kwa speed train ni RMB 79 kwa Bus ni 75 kwa wewe punguani utapanda nini?
Huwezi ukalinganisha bus na train hata bei ikiwa sawa .
Train unajua kabisa naondoka saa mbili nitafika saa tano bus majaliwa