chiaroscuro wrote:hardwood wrote:shiznit wrote:hardwood wrote:iris wrote:chiaroscuro wrote:mukiha wrote:If they had asked me, I'd have suggested that we spend all that money in improving the railway link between Thika and Nairobi.
The problem is not the size of the road; it is the number of cars using it. The way to reduce this number is to provide an good alternative to road transportation.
Watch this space: as soon as the expanded highway is opened, the traffic jams will return. Simple reason being that people will have moved from Nairobi to Thika enmase
Have you seen the developments going on along this highway...all waiting for it to open?
Amazing...8 years later
There are really smart people in Kenya. Problem is that they will never be consulted.
So how do you use the train if you live in roysambu, roasters, pangani etc?
That was his point, really. An improved railway link would have connected these suburbs. In cities like Jo'burg and Pretoria, there is a bus-feeder system that ferries train passengers from suburbs that are away from the train stations to the train station at a subsidized cost. Improve train wagons and engines, revamp train stations and the actual railway line, and establish a bus feeder system.
Thika Road admittedly needs a relief system from an alternate transport form.
The nearest railway station to roysambu is in mwiki or githurai. So how many will board the subsidised buses to mwiki to catch the train to town?
You should note that the current reli was built by colonialists for their use to move goods between nairobi and thika, nanyuki/laikipia and that was before roads were built. It's routing is inappropriate for current urban transport. Therefore putting new locomotives and wagons may not help solve the problem. If we are to use reli for urban transport, the only way out is to build a new commuter rail that serves the residential areas or an elevated reli along the major roads. The chinese have built elevated parts of sgr. So there would be no problem doing the same along the major roads ie. thika road, waiyaki way, ngong rd, mbs road etc.
Kwani "improving the rail link" nikufanya nini?
The Nairobi commuter rail plans are gathering dust at the mayor's sorry governors office. There's a dedicated thread on wazua on that btw.
Many Nairobians think Thika road serves just Nairobi - Thika and anything in between these two towns only. May be the problem was brought about by the naming of the road, the road as it were would never serve the northern part of the country if it remained the way it was back in the 2000s. One accident on either side of the road meant sleeping there.
By the way, A2, the section known as Thika road is not grand, there's nothing spectacular about it just abit* modern and then made worse by the constant pedestrian crossing and bumps introduced by office dwellers who didnt want to think. Even countries that have great commuter rail systems are still served by good roads(think London).
It is true, Nairobians expanded and lived by the roads towards Thika but is the problem the road or the design of the city? Why should every vehicle going to the CBD converge at A2?
Nairobi needs to be redesigned, not even the BRT or rail system can solve the mess
"There are only two emotions in the market, hope & fear. The problem is you hope when you should fear & fear when you should hope: - Jesse Livermore
.