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City Tram takes competition to Umoinner’s route

By HILARY KIMUYU October 24th, 2015 1 min read

There is a new kid on the block among matatus operators on the Umoja-Innercore-town route, which has previously been dominated by Umoinner Sacco and Utimo Sacco.

The new entrant into the populous route is City Tram Sacco which, according to the management is a splinter group of Umoinner Sacco.

In an interview with Nairobi News, City Tram’s public relation manager Edward Okello said the they decided to registered a limited company because of a difference with other members of Umoinner’s management.

“We had a misunderstanding with Umoinner Sacco’s management and we decided to split and start our own company,” Okello said.

“Some of the drivers and matatus from Umoinner moved with us to the new company due to dissatisfaction Umoinner’s management,” he said.

Umoinner-Sacco
A matatu from the Umoinner Sacco that operate on the Umoja-town route. PHOTO | NAIROBI NEWS

ROAD SAFETY

Not all commuters, however, are satisfied with City Trams quality of service, not withstanding the fact that the new entrants fleet of matatus are only weeks into business.

“These new matatus are just similar to Umoinner. They play very loud music and their crew are same ones previously at Umoinner who are infamous for harassing passengers,” Kim Tanui, a resident of Umoja said.

Mary Kanini, also a resident of Umoja, shared the same sentiments.

“I had a bad first experience when I boarded one of these matatus. The music was too loud and the driver was very reckless,” she said.

Speaking to Nairobi News, Mr Okello of City Tram acknowledged these concerns saying they have already approached the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to have all their crew members taken for refreshers courses on road safety and thereafter be certified.

The new players in the route have also been enticing their passengers with slightly reduced fare at peek hours as compared to their competitors on the same route.