All public service vehicle drivers will undergo alcohol tests ahead of the reopening of schools on Monday. Speaking after a multi agency team meeting on Sunday at the KICC, Transport CS James Macharia said the government and the chairman of the Matatu Owners Association have agreed that all drivers need to be tested, to avoid any accidents and incidents of carelessness as kids will be heading to school.
He said that drivers also won’t be allowed to travel long distances, “Because by doing so they get fatigued and cause accidents along the way.” The CS urged motorists not to hike fares, given that parents are still feeling the economic strain caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, “We appreciate and recognize the fact that parents are coming from a very difficult period where they are constrained economically.”
On the railway system, Macharia revealed that on Monday the capacity of inter County railway transport will be doubled, with two trains coming from Nairobi and two from Mombasa. There will be no express trains straight from Nairobi to Mombasa, and instead they’ll be stopping at stations along the Nairobi Mombasa route.
There will also be a train from Nairobi to Nanyuki, and it will carry about 1,500 students and parents. Intracity trains will be operating at full capacity, around 20 of them to make sure students going around in Nairobi metropolis have no problem.