Rude Empath

Photo by Mario Ayala via dribble It might be safe to assume you do not have a personal chauffeur if you aren’t in the 1%. Save for the occasional COVID Uber where you ride back left with a little less than the stipulated social distance between you and the driver in the jam-weaving Suzuki Alto 400. However, using taxi-hailing applications on the regular wouldn't amount to a financially sustainable practice - unless you are Bezos, at which point you might as well own the franchise and its competitors. So, reliable public transport is the way to ride. However, the term reliable has lost its lustre to a point we do not consider all it encompasses: proper pricing, predictable routes, effective communication and calculable timing. No one, forgive the generalisation, living in the outskirts of Nairobi can say, "I paid normal fare rates despite it raining cats and dogs", not with their chest! Meaning people have had to stow their pride and make the tuma kitu call that they had ...

M atatus, exquisite works of art on wheels and where I draw the majority of my despair. Predominantly because there are multiple areas of improvement within this transport method. Today's encounter tested my thermal comfort and my faith. Packed in a 14-seater to transverse 4 counties, I was too frugal to shell out an additional ksh50 that comes with the shuttle luxury of 3 fewer seats. Two hours have elapsed. We are still at the bus stop waiting for two more travellers for us to be on our way. It is a sauna! And rather than the euphoria experienced in a steam chamber, I sit in a sticky agitated mass of paranoia even though the windows are closed as I use my phone. Thank goodness, we are finally off. Glance around to acquaint myself with the present county-crossing community and surprisingly majority are still in their jackets. In all fairness, it rained this morning, but now the temperature has risen to unbearable levels! Are they immune to the heat? May...