This could be the public transportation disruption and revolution we need.

Will it work? For taxis, hailing apps somehow created a new market

WIth ma3s, the crews and owners are averse to technology. Those of us who had Beba cards around 5 yrs ago will recall how they sabotaged

Fantastic idea. It is just a larger version of shared rides. With an app and a 14 seater matatu and using power of algorithms it is possible to get an app that assesses traffic, passenger location and driver location. Put them all together for doorstep pick up to a ride into town to a designated drop off or drop offs. For a small premium, millions would opt for this mode of transport.

Will be very interesting to see the business model uber will deploy currently most city based matatus work on targets.Kwanza they tafuta for mwenye gari then mafuta finally wanajilipa.

How will they operate during rush hour do they wait for the customer who has itishad ama will they cater kwa yule yuko kwa mlango.

Also will they be branded or work with existing saccos kupata "shimo' hii nairobi is not easy the current congestion says it all.

Vehicles will be owned by individuals just like the taxi uber. There are thousands of people at a particular estate heading to town each morning. There are also thousands of people at say upperhil headed to buru in the evening. What is so hard about hailing an uber matatu that goes round picking estate guys headed to town and vice versa in the evening. The app can be configured to charge a different fair depending on where exactly you will be picked and dropped. No need for a shimo anywhere.

On this one they will need to buy their own fleets. The existing matatus are too beaten up and will resist change heavily. Guys have seen vile Uber imeharibu biashara ya taxi, now all other transport sectors are very apprehensive of allowing apps into their space

It would be great if it would work but:

TLB-Which route will they be registered to?

Ma3 guys-What is in it for industry stakeholders? Ma3 owner, deree, kondaa?

Hmmm ... I don't like this idea. This is money being taken away from Kenya. Uber will finyilia guys and take off with huge profits.

Just like their uber taxis aren't their own properties, they will leave ownwership of mats to individuals but will have designated spots guided by the driver's app where the mats will be waiting for people to board. Basically all uber would be doing is taking an already existing transportation infrastructure and modifying it to benefit commuters and themselves.

The driver chooses a restricted route say route no.7 but must cover approximately the path that the actual mat route no. 7 does. The further he chooses to deviate from his guided path, the more it may hurt his earnings since mat charges are fixed.

The commuter chooses a route that the app proposes as a result of entering their location and destination that is also approximately in line with the driver's route no. 7 for example. The commuter's app then tells them of the closest bus that is within the vicinity waiting for commuters around that area and gives the no. of people left to fill it and how much time it would take them to get to it given their approaching pace.

The same time is also communicated to the driver with the longest time being the slowest approaching commuter. The app will not limit anyone choosing the mat so that first come is first served and the mat leaves as soon as it fills up.

Why do you think the concept is targeted at conventional or current matatu owners? We are limiting our imagination here by applying our broken matatu model to this,...in fact, if Uber tries to emulate the matatu way of doing things, it is likely not to work..
Expanding on @Drobos idea, imagine this scenario ...its 5:30 pm, day over at Industrial Area for instance, people milling about, a prospective traveller enters his or her usual route, Industrial Area Street A to BuruBuru shopping center ..., and so do a few others, the Uber app aggregates people originating from one point and are terminating their journeys at different points along the same route, Shell, phase 5, buru centre ...it sees there is a quorum, may be 7 people are sufficient,...it generates a code for the route, lets call it a journey code and searches nearby to see if there are any vans available and publishes ...a driver signs up/activates the journey code and moves to the first pick up point ....
See? Not hard at all.
There will be challenges (legal and regulatory), and matatu owners will be rebel and be petulant to the ends of the earth, but the matatu industry will be disrupted....we are reaching a tipping point with this madness.