Western travelers have all the reasons to smile after Easy Coach reduced fares on some of its western Kenya routes by up to sh200.
The news after the demand for upcountry travel reduced in the wake of Covid-19 economic hardships. The bus firm is looking to retain and attract more customers amid low travel to Western Kenya by the changes.
The move comes less than two months after bus companies including ENA Coach, Mololine and Easy Coach raised fares to protect their profit margins after the government asked the operators to reduce their capacities to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“The number of passengers traveling up-country at the moment have slightly gone down due to the hard economic situation posed by Covid-19 pandemic,” Easy Coach managing director Azym Dossa told Business Daily in an interview.
“We had to slash the fares to reduce the burden on long-distance travel for our customers. We hope the situation will improve shortly.”
Those traveling to Kisumu from Nairobi will now pay 1,650 from Sh1,800 while those going Eldoret from Nairobi will pay Sh1550 down from Sh1750.
However, the bus firm has not altered fares for 13 of its routes which include Nakuru, Narok, Mbita, Kenduba, and Awendo.
From Nairobi, Easy Coach charges a flat rate of Sh800 to Narok, Sh1450 to Oyugis, and Sh1,500 to Homabay.
“For demographic reasons, South Nyanza fares per kilometer have been on the lower side by far. So further adjustments demand not necessary,” said Mr. Dossa.
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As part of the conditions that the government outlined in the resumption of the PSV operations after lifting restrictions on movement into and out of the Nairobi Metropolitan Area, PSV operators were asked to operate under strict health directives, including leaving some seats empty.
For instance, a 14-seater PSV carries only 10 passengers, a 33-seater 18 passengers, and a 51-seater 30 passengers. This includes the drivers and the crew.
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