Vihiga County Boda Boda Policy 2018

Abstract

Public road passenger transport in Kenya dates back to the 1930's and accounts for over 80% of the total internal freight and passenger traffic in Kenya with the remainder of about 7% being mainly carried by rail and air. the public transport is dominated by the informal sector commonly referred to as Paratransit. this is composed of privately owned and operated transport options that include matatus (buses, mini buses, vans), motorcycles (boda boda), bicycles and tricycles (tuk tuk). due to the lack of organized passenger transport, alternatives have led to the rapid growth in these non-conventional means of the public transport. the entry od boda boda as a means of transport in the already chaotic public passenger transport sector brought even more chaos. the zero rating of boda bodas below 250 cc in Kenya in 2008 by the government meant that more people could afford them. Just like matatus, the boda boda started off without any form of regulation. boda boda motorcycles became popular because they could use all possible routes to get their pillion passengers to their destination even during heavy traffic congestion.