Nyeri's 'Shakahola' bus stop project was unnecessary from the word go

The new Asian Quarters main stage in Nyeri, on April 27, 2023. [File, Standard]

Nyeri town's Asian Quarters Bus Terminus, popularly known as Shakahola Stage, is one of the clearest examples of what urban planners describe as accidental planning. Established on a reclaimed dumpsite/cemetery, the facility has struggled for legitimacy since its completion nearly five years ago. Despite heavy investment, commuters, businesspeople and matatu saccos continue to resist its adoption, forcing the county government to seek court intervention and resort to coercive measures. A transport hub that was envisioned as a modern solution has instead become a textbook case of how infrastructure can fail when divorced from the realities of deliberate organic urban growth.

Ebenezer Howard, in his book, Garden cities of tomorrow, famously stated that "Town planning is not mere place-making, nor even work of embellishment. It is the organisation of the whole of life within a community." Nyeri town's experience with the Shakahola Stage is the opposite of this wisdom. Instead of responding to the socio-economic pulse of Nyeri and its daily commuters, the project imposed a structure on a community that neither demanded nor embraced it. The result is visible-empty bays, unutilised spaces, and frustrated operators who find the older, organically grown existing three termini more functional.