The Mombasa County Government is planning to construct and start the use of bus rapid transit (BRT) system that is expected to improve the public transport system and reduce traffic jams.

According to the county executive, department of Transport, Infrastructure and public Works Taufiq Balala the project will be a game changer in transforming the public transport system in Mombasa.

Speaking during a non-motorized transport peer learning forum bringing together stakeholders from Kisumu, Nairobi and Mombasa held in Mombasa, Balala argued that there was no need to continue expanding roads saying that BRT was the best solution to deal with the traffic jam witnessed in the city.

 “As a department we are contemplating to constructing the BRT system that we expect will bring order and sanity into our public transport sector, we don’t expect to have jams once the project is done because the BRT buses will have designated lanes,” said Balala.

Adding " If we only get one billion shillings we are ready for BRT. This money is affordable because it is a small percentage of what our country uses in infrastructure and roads. We can do it in different phases, the first phase will be from town to Mtwapa"

According to Balala, 97 per cent of Mombasa residents use public transport therefore there is a need to have an efficient and reliable public transport system stating that traffic is mostly caused by private cars.

He called for both the national government and the county governments to collaborate in the project so that both Mombasa and Nairobi, the two largest and highly populated cities in the country would have an efficient and reliable public transport system just like other major cities in the world.

Balala also stated that he was personally opposed to the expansion of the Mombasa-Malindi highway stretch between lights to Mtwapa to six lanes saying that it would only bring congestion to both ends as more people will buy cars once the road is expanded.

“The expansion of the road or construction of a new bridge will not have any big effect in solving the traffic menace witnessed on our roads, BRT is the best solution we can have,” said Balala.

Balala bashed at those who were opposed to the project saying that it will render matatu operators and other public transport players’ jobless, instead saying that no revenue will be lost as they can be incorporated in the management of the BRT system.

The county executive also stated that the county was planning to invest in a new intelligence traffic management system to ensure smooth flow of traffic within Mombasa CBD.

The county he said was currently undertaking a survey in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) that will result in the abolishment of 33 junctions and roundabouts within Mombasa.

“We have partnered with JICA to conduct the survey to see which roundabouts will be removed and replaced with intelligent traffic lights,” Balala said.

The system is borrowed from Japan where CCTV cameras strategically placed in all the traffic stops will be used to control traffic from a well-equipped modern state-of-the-art control room.

He further stated that the 450 million Buxton foot bridge launched by president Uhuru Kenyatta in January 2017 was poorly designed.

According to Balala, the bridge was not as effective as it was projected to be adding that the best way to have people crossing was to have a zebra cross in the area and also have a table top crossing design.

“The table top crossing is like a big bump where cars will have to slow down therefore minimizing the chances of accidents, if it were up to me, I would have pulled the thing down,” said Balala.

The department has in the last few weeks been erecting road sign posts that are people living with disabilities friendly especially with the laying of tactile tiles to help people who are visually impaired to be able to cross the road.