Kimilili MP Didmus Wekesa Barasa wants the National Transport and Safety Authority Act of 2012 be amended by introducing clauses which will prescribe the maximum and minimum fares payable by passengers in Public Service Vehicles (PSVs).
The only challenge is that the Government does not own a single PSV.
While it could be necessary, how realistic is it that such a law can beat the market forces of supply versus demand especially during Christmas and other peak seasons.
In our view, the Government and MPs should focus on the increasing supply as well as address real causes of high PSV fares namely exorbitant fuel prices and unmotorable roads which occasion high insurance premiums and high wear and tear costs
A Bill for ACT of Parliament to amend the National Transport and Safety Authority Act
ENACTED by the Parliament of Kenya, as follows—
1.This Act may be cited as the National Transport and Safety Authority (Amendment) Act, 2023.
2.The National Transport and Safety Authority Act the Act referred to as the “principal Act”) is amended—
(a) by renumbering the existing provision as subsection (I); and
(b) by inserting the following new subsection immediately after subsection (1) —
“(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), the Cabinet Secretary may in consultations with the Authority make regulations prescribing—
(a) the maximum and minimum fares payable by the passengers in the public service vehicles within the country;
(b) the mechanisms of reviewing fares in the public service motor vehicles;
(c) the measures for ensuring that fares imposed are fair and reasonable;
(d) the modalities by which public service vehicles retain copies of timetables and fare tables to be displayed for all passengers to see; and
(e)the means of ensuring that safety of the passengers in the public service vehicles is guaranteed.”
