Murkomen: School buses can travel at night past 10pm, but not carrying students
School buses are pictured at the Nakuru Athletics Club on February 12, 2023, during a prayer service by the Kenya Kwanza Alliance. Transport CS Murkomen says it is not sustainable to say school buses should not do anything else other than transporting children.
Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) Kipchumba Murkomen has said he will review his earlier directive banning the night travel for school buses.
He was speaking on Friday during a meeting with Nairobi County transport stakeholders in Nairobi when he noted that it was not sustainable to say that the school buses should not do anything else other than transport children.
CS Murkomen had earlier ordered, with immediate effect, school transportation to operate between 10pm and 5am.
"School transportation shall not be allowed to operate between 10 pm and 5am in line with the Traffic (Amendment) Act, 2017, effective immediately," he said then.
He has, however, changed the tune and softened his stance.
“It is the school children who should not be transported past 10pm,” Mr Murkomen said, adding that he will engage the education sector on the same.
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He explained that it is sometimes the communities that resolve to buy buses for these school buses with the hope that the buses help them.
He said that in some instances, it is the communities that fundraise to buy buses for schools. It would, therefore, be inconsiderate to ban the movement past 10pm given that the sustainability of also managing those buses, especially when hired out for other responsibilities, is around the community.
“And therefore, our regulation should go to; children should not be transported past 10pm and up to 5am. We’ll focus on the students rather than focusing on the bus,” he said.
Promising to do all it takes to curb the road carnage, Mr Murkomen said contrary to the notion that public service vehicles are to blame for most road accidents, statistics, he said, indicated the contrary.
“In fact, it's the private vehicles that cause a lot of accidents. Statistics do not support the public perception that matatus cause accidents,” Cs Murkomen said, adding that most accidents occur during the weekend and mostly past 8pm.
The previous regime, under order of the then Interior CS and Education CS at different times, had placed a cap on the hours school buses were allowed to operate.
When accidents involving school buses were rampant, Mr Fred Matiang’i and Mr George Magoha banned the use of school buses past 10pm arguing traveling at these hours risked the lives of students.
Representing the stakeholders, Mr Henry Mkabana of the Federation of Public Transport Sector decried the “blanket treatment of drivers” when accidents occur on the road.
Mr Mkabana also asked the government to look into the issuance of insurance proposing a review of the third-party insurance to include the driver, vehicle owner, and passengers.
