HUNDREDS OF COMMUTERS STRANDED, FARES HIKED THREEFOLD.

As has been the norm for most urbanites in Kenya, majority of Thika residents opted to travel upcountry in their numbers for the December festivities. Compounded by the light showers that hit Thika Town in the morning hours, the result of this were hundreds of passengers getting stranded at bus termini in Thika Town as they did a last minute rush to travel up-country on Christmas Day.

Thika's Main Bus Station was a beehive of activity with many passengers stranded with their luggage and children due to the increased fares and the scarcity of PSV vehicles.

The PSV vehicles took that advantage to hike fares, some as much as increasing them threefold. For instance, on a normal day, travelling from Thika to Kandara costed one sh.40 or 50 on a normal day. For those who opted to travel to the same destination, the whole of yesterday had to dig deep into their pockets and part with sh.150. You can imagine the pain those heading to far places like Nakuru, Nyeri and Meru had to bear in reference to fares.

Despite the increment of fare to various destinations there were those travelers who did not mind as long as they reached home to spend time with their loved ones. Others could be seen standing in small groups hopping the fares would come down and after hours of waiting they had little choice but to board the available vehicles. 

Most of them remained stranded for the better part of the day, some hoping that things would ease up as evening popped in. Some travelers even decided to return home and try their luck on Saturday.

Once those who managed to board a vehicle got a seat, the next puzzle was to leave the town's CBD, especially those who were heading to the Murang'a direction since for the better part of the day, the traffic snarl up on Haile Selassie Road started building as from Klub Liquid Cash Hotel all the way to past High-level on Thika-Nyeri Road.

It seems Thika had not had enough of them and still wanted to have them around. It took one more than an hour to move from Thika to the Del Monte fruit kiosk near Thika Sports Club. 

Well, with that said and done, Thika thanks God that we never witnessed major incidences as a result apart from some minor accidents here and there that did not mean much. The traffic police had a hell of a time maintaining the flow and thanks to the Thika Traffic Police Department, the vehicles kept moving though on a snail pace. 

As for the motorists and commuters who had to bear the frustrations of being 'parked' on the road cha lazima, I say poleni sana and hope you arrived shaggs safely. Never mind about the town, sisi mawochii tumebaki hapa tukiimaitain.

Happy Holidays.