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NTSA: Why we suspended Little Shuttle, SWVL vehicles

By Mac Otani September 30th, 2019 1 min read

The National Transport and Safety Authority has clarified why it suspended vehicles operating under bus hailing app companies Little Shuttle and SWVL.

According to a statement by NTSA director general Francis Meja, Little Shuttle and SWVL were illegally operating shuttle services without the required PSV licenses.

The authority indicated the shuttle buses run by the two firms were operating commuter services using Tours Service License (TSL), which it said, violated the provisions of the PSV Regulations.

“The vehicles under these hailing app companies have acquired Tours Service License (TSL) but are engaging in commuter service within Nairobi therefore contravening the terms of the Tour Service License (TSL),” read the statement.

Further NTSA revealed that the two companies have not made any efforts to register their vehicles with the authority as required by Section 26 of the Transport and Safety Act No. 33 of 2012.

“The two companies have never contacted the Authority to show any intention to operate as commuter service providers,” continued the statement.

The transport and safety has given these as reasons for blacklisting the specific vehicles operating under Little Shuttle and SWVL and invalidating their respective Tours Service Licenses.

NTSA has however indicated that it will cooperate with the two hailing app companies should they seek to comply with the PSV Regulations to return to the roads to proceed with commuter services.

The two firms had earlier issued statement notifying its customers of the cessation of their shuttle hailing services from different routes effective from October 1, 2019, while calling for dialogue.

“I would have appreciated that they (NTSA) open a dialog with technology companies like us on how to work together and change the face of public transportation in our country,” Little Shuttle CEO Kamal Budhabhatti had said in a statement.