Before Nganyas: When rugged buses ruled roads

For more than five decades, Kenya’s public transport transformation has been a journey of machines, people, ambition and adaptation.

It is a revolution that began with rugged British-built buses and locally fabricated bodies, moved through the colourful era of Akamba, Kenya Bus Service (KBS), Overseas Traders Company (OTC), Nyayo and dozens of regional operators.

The gradual transformation finally ushered in the era of matatus, shuttles, modern coaches, and digital taxis.

There was a time when boarding a bus was part of the experience. Its engine had a personality, its conductor had a voice that could be heard across a crowded terminus and its colours were enough to tell passengers where it was headed.

Kenyan roads once belonged to machines that growled, rattled, smoked and roared. Among the early workhorses were Bedford, Morris, Leyland, Albion, Guy and Fiat chassis that were originally trucks before being transformed into passenger carriers.

Local craftsmen fitted wooden-and-steel bodies onto heavy-duty chassis, creating buses suited to the harsh conditions of rural Kenya.

A passenger could sit on a hard seat while luggage was piled onto a roof rack and the vehicle had to survive whatever the road offered.

The buses themselves were magnificent examples of mechanical engineering and local ingenuity. Some had raised passenger decks, large windows and roof-level windscreens while others carried rear lights adapted from passenger cars, including combinations of Peugeot 504 lights.

The Leyland Albion became particularly memorable among enthusiasts. Its steering was famously heavy, forcing drivers to wrestle with the wheel at corners.

Its unusual gear arrangement and powerful engine gave it the character of a machine designed first for endurance and only later adapted for passenger comfort.

The radiator fan could scream at a high pitch, while the exhaust notes of a large six-cylinder engine announced the approaching bus long before passengers could see it.

Before the matatu took over Kenya’s organised public transport developed under colonial rule, formal bus companies were the backbone of mobility.

Akamba Bus became one of the giants of intercity travel. Emerging from Machakos in the 1950s, Akamba grew into an East African transport empire. Its buses travelled across Kenya and into neighbouring countries, carrying passengers, luggage and parcels.

Older passengers remember different combinations of black, white and orange, and later white, green and red colours. Whatever the livery, the name Akamba carried enormous recognition.

A person could send a parcel from Nairobi to a rural home with a simple instruction: “It is coming by Akamba.”

Akamba understood that buses were moving economies transporting people and goods between urban centres and rural communities. They carried schoolchildren, workers, traders and families returning home for Christmas.

Its eventual decline became one of the most painful chapters in Kenya’s transport history. Financial difficulties, internal corporate problems, competition and changing passenger preferences weakened the once-powerful company.

Before the collapse of Akamba, KBS for generations since 1953, had been part of the city’s identity.

The blue-and-cream buses moved office workers, students, traders and families through the capital. Routes were familiar. Stops were known. Passengers developed routines around scheduled services.

The arrival of the double-decker bus in Nairobi in 1956 became part of a broader era when the fleets operated in Nairobi and Mombasa and elsewhere in East Africa.

KBS itself eventually suffered severe financial difficulties and suspended operations in 2005 before the brand later re-emerged under different management.

For many Nairobians, the blue-and-cream bus represented an era when public transport was associated with order, predictable routes and a recognisable system.

While KBS became closely associated with urban transport, OTC became a popular name on upcountry routes serving major urban and rural centres.

A bus travelling from Nairobi to a remote rural district needed an engine capable of climbing hills, a chassis capable of surviving potholes and a driver who knew how to coax the machine through mud.

Christmas

There were conductors shouting destinations at crowded termini and passengers scrambling for seats. And there were names that once ruled the Kenyan highway.

The buses were almost as tough as the people who used them. A journey from western Kenya through Kisumu and Nakuru to Nairobi could consume most of a day, with Mombasa taking even longer. Travelling was therefore a nightmare as well as an adventure.

Aggrey Lijodi, who has worked with most of the bus companies, remembers with nostalgia how a journey from Kakamega through Kisumu and Nakuru to Nairobi could take a whole day.

“Traveling from Mombasa to Nairobi took more than 11 hours,” he adds.

According to Lijodi, passengers knew which bus was fast, which one was comfortable and which driver could handle a difficult stretch of road.

At crowded termini, especially around Christmas, boarding could become a competitive sport as passengers arrived early to secure seats.

Operators, including Uhuru na Kazi, Kwiki Bus Service, Isunga Line, Mrembo, Malaika and Mutitu Busline, developed loyal followings. Some buses were remembered by their shapes and nicknames.

In the north, the challenge was even greater.Operators such as Galayr Cruiser served long routes from Nairobi towards Garissa, Wajir, El Wak and Mandera.

Those buses carried goods, parcels and economic activity across enormous distances. For communities separated from Nairobi by hundreds of kilometres and difficult roads, the bus was a lifeline.

Commuters enjoyed the journey, the bus was a moving social club, passengers talked, children slept, people ate snacks bought at roadside stops. Vendors appeared at bus stops selling fruit, roasted maize, bread, eggs and drinks.

The emergence of Tom Mboya Bus Service added another important chapter. Through the United Land and Water Transport Company and subsequent changes in ownership and operations, the company became associated with an expanding network in western Kenya.

Companies such as Roadways Nyanza, Wepesi Peugeot, Mawingo Express, Towfiq Express, Coast Bus, Sauti ya Taifa, Anyole Express, Goldline, Malaika Superior Coach, Mrembo, Mutitu Express and Nyakiambi Bus Service became part of this sprawling transport ecosystem.

Nyakiambi, for example, connected communities around Muiga, Naro Moru, Nanyuki, Timau and Meru. Its cream-and-light-blue buses, frequently carrying luggage and sacks on roof racks, were more than transport vehicles.

Across Kenya, smaller operators created their own empires. Malindi Bus was remembered for white and sky-blue colours, with distinctive yellow and red lettering.

Pirate taxis

As demand for public transport grew, so did entrepreneurs bring Volkswagen Beetles, Peugeots, Fords, station wagons, vans and converted pickups to carry passengers.

These small vehicles were flexible and could enter neighbourhoods beyond established bus routes. They could respond quickly to demand.

Wepesi Peugeot would be used to transport bodies from Nairobi to Nyanza or Western for those families who could not afford a van. They were cheaper, they could be faster and they could operate outside rigid schedules with authorities often viewing them as illegal “pirate taxis”.

In fact, in 1968, hundreds of drivers reportedly protested licensing restrictions around Kiambu, demonstrating the growing tension between established operators and independent passenger vehicles.

Then came the phrase that would forever transform Kenyan transport: matatu, which derived its name from the three cents fare charged.

Unlike a large bus operating according to established routes and schedules, a matatu could fill quickly, move quickly, change its route and penetrate residential areas.

The 1970s and 1980s brought another transformation with reclined seats and more heavily cushioned, passenger decks raised.

Roof racks remained essential on many rural routes as buses carried sacks, cartons, farm produce and luggage. This was also the period when buses increasingly became objects of affection.

As private operators expanded, the government attempted to strengthen formal public transport.

Nyayo Bus Service emerged as a state-backed effort to provide disciplined and reliable transport.

Its green buses, carrying combinations of red, black and white associated with the national colours, became a familiar feature on roads.

Nyayo buses brought sanity in public transport by their orderly scheduled departures, designated stops and professional crews.

For a while, it worked, but operating a large formal fleet was expensive. Subsidies, management difficulties and competition from flexible private operators weakened the system. Eventually, Nyayo faded from the roads.

By the 1990s and early 2000s, the Kenyan bus industry entered another remarkable period with Isuzu becoming increasingly dominant.

Among enthusiasts, the Isuzu MV118 acquired legendary status. Operators such as Linear Coach became famous, particularly on the Kisii-Nairobi route.

Others claimed Linear Coach travelled so quickly that passengers seemed to arrive in Nairobi before they had even settled into their seats. Its colour, engine sound, horn and speed became part of local folklore.

Routes from Nairobi through Garissa, Wajir, El Wak and Mandera were long, difficult and demanding. A bus heading north could carry passengers in the cabin and a small economy on its roof.

Other buses that have dominated Kenyan routes include Kirenga, Mbukinya, Benways, Shaggy, Kwega, Msamaria Mwema, Eldoret Express, Kensilver Express- a bus company that plies the Nairobi-Meru-Maua long-distance route, Goldline, Kihoto Bus among others.

Its eventual decline in the 2000s became one of the saddest chapters in Kenya’s transport story and it was by early 2010s when familiar buses had largely disappeared from Kenya’s highways.

Safety

Matatu Owners Association chairman Albert Karakacha says poor roads have been the main challenge draining bus companies. “Many of our roads are in bad shape, maintenance cost has risen up due to regular breakage making it difficult to sustain in the current economy,” he notes.

Long-serving former chairman Simon Kimutai, who led the association for over two decades, recalls that large companies struggled to respond to a transport market that increasingly rewarded speed, flexibility and entrepreneurship.

“The decline of the double-decker was not simply because Kenyan roads were too poor. Passenger demand, operating costs, fleet replacement, transport economics and changing patterns of urban mobility, all contributed to its disappearance,” he says.

Kenya’s public transport sector is undergoing a major transformation as modern matatus and buses replace the traditional vehicles that have long dominated urban routes. The new-generation PSVs combine comfort, technology, safety and environmental sustainability.