THE STANDARD
BUSINESS
Cashless payment used by Matatu Owners Association (MOA) Compliant vehicles in 2014. Cash remains the king in the matatu sector. [File, Standard]
Fear can make even the boldest men shudder. By last year, even the notoriously ungovernable matatu crew strictly adhered to the Covid-19 guidelines given by the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation.
There was fear of arrest or infection with coronavirus. For some time, passengers could pay their bus fares using mobile money such as M-Pesa. It was safe, reducing contact as the exchange of cash was limited.
If you whipped out a crisp new banknote from your back pocket and thrust it in the hand of a conductor, heads turned. You were an unwanted impediment to the movement into cashless payment.
THE STANDARD By
Peter Theuri |
April 4th 2021 at 00:00:00 GMT +0300
Meshack Odhiambo Otieno, a Juja based welder during an interview with The Standard. [David Njaaga, Standard]
Outside Beba Beba Trade Centre, along Tom Mboya Street, Nairobi, hundreds of commuters queue, hoping the next bus to Kasarani’s Mwiki will not be that long. It is around seven o’clock in the evening, and panic is setting in. Curfew begins in an hour.
These scenes were last experienced early last year when the night curfew started at seven in the evening. Still, there is a palpable difference.
Back then, bus conductors were armed with sanitisers, and every passenger had to get their hands sprayed with a pint of alcohol before boarding. There was also a handwashing station, where every passenger stopped for a few seconds.