Meet Matatu crew who transport the disabled at no extra cost
A Nairobi matatu driver and his conductor have taken it upon themselves to ease public transport for persons with disability working at an office along Waiyaki Way.
Josphat Mwangi a matatu driver and James Njau a conductor, voluntarily offered to be transporting the National Council of Persons with Disability staff whose office is at ABC Place to Nairobi CBD and to Kinoo at no extra cost after seeing the struggle they went through crossing the busy highway.
The two have been taking time off during rush hour for two years now to ensure that the staff with varied degrees of disability get back home after work with little hassle.
“We at the council have persons with disability forming half of our staff. Some were resigning after few months of service because of transport challenges that would see much of their income spent on transport,” said the council chairman Dr David Sankok.
Dr Sankok says that for a long time he was unable to find an institutional solution to the transport crisis that was facing employees before some ‘godsend’ came to his rescue.
“We never approached them they turned up outside our office one day after working hours and offered to transport disabled staff at the normal fares to Nairobi and Kinoo,” Dr Sangok said during an interview with Nairobi News.
Since that day, the KMO Sacco crew members have been responsible for the transportation of the National Council of Persons with Disability staff.
“Before then the staff would wait at a bus stop for at least 3 hours with all matatus either shunning them or demanding that they pay twice the required bus fare,” said Dr Sankok.
At least 10 members of staff working at the council headquarters have benefited from the transport service offered by this selfless Kenyans.
“They usually drop the ones living in Kinoo right outside their houses and this has helped the staff members to be motivated at work since at the end of the day they are assured of safe transport home,” said Dr Sankok.
The council chairman admits that there is more that needs to be done to ensure at least a dozen vehicles in every Sacco fleet are accessible to persons with disability and is working on implementing the rule.