Mombasa county government plans to introduce Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system to decongest the city.
Governor Hassan Joho administration said talks are underway to introduce the system to east movement in the tourist hub.
In an interview, Transport executive Tawfiq Balala on Wednesday said consultants have been engaged to develop the route plan for the system.
RELATED CONTENT
“Right now we are doing in house plans before we engage a permanent consultant. We have had meetings with some of them to see how best the system can work to help decongest the city,” said Mr Balala.
Among the consultants that the county has engaged, he said, was the one who did the rapid transit system study of Dar es Salam in Tanzania.
He said before the end of Mr Joho’s term, the first phase of the system would be in place. In the first phase, the county will start with four buses located at main junction leading to the CBD.
Mr Balala said preliminary plans have proposed the main road from Buxton to the Central Business District (CBD) would be turned to dedicated one lane for the buses.
This will mean that the six lanes that the Mombasa CBD main road have on both sides of the roads will be turned to a single lane.
Also Read
CountiesMombasa-based cement store closed over pollution
CountiesNairobi governor dissolves Pumwani Maternity Hospital board
Mr Balala said it will take seven minutes for the buses to move in the entire CBD. This will allow the public use less time to work place and home.
A majority of people use Public Service Vehicles (PSV) which take up to 30 minutes to move in the entire CBD.
“This will work better than having a train system. We have seen the BRT has worked very well in countries like Brazil and Columbia where it was first introduced," said Mr Balala.
According to the proposal, the BRT system will have buses that carry about 100 passengers.