Nairobi Matatu Culture

In the busy streets of Nairobi city, public transport has become part and parcel of the culture and a national heritage among the dynamic youthful residents in the city estates around.

Minibuses and buses with a range of passenger capacity between 14-52 people are commonly referred to as Matatus with crew members being a driver and a tout conducting business in a single matatu.

Since President Uhuru Kenyatta lifted the law banning the art which was prolific earlier on before the Michuki laws, the art dynamism is back with a fresh approach in the matatu industry.

modern art

It has actually become a battle within matatu industry to surpass one another in art and design in Nairobi. These public transport vehicles come inform of all art and design in order to represent the route they ply on and to have the most conspicuous designs on their vehicles.

Most of these graphic art are of music artists and influential leaders of all time perfectly drawn on the interior and exteriors of these buses. Some have simple but elegant use of color combination that is so attractive even to the blind.

Some have conscience striking messages on the outside which at times may not have any apparent meaning. Others are written biblical quotes and speeches given by political leader like Martin Luther king junior. This art and design competition among the matatus in Nairobi drew my curiosity and led me to search for the most striking graphic art and design.

A matatu operating on route 105, had this striking image of Moses holding the tablets that the Ten Commandments were engraved on. Subsequent, the book of exodus was written on the exterior of this matatu with black old English text font on a yellow background, it was literally the holy book on the move.

Route 44/45 will want to outshine route 9/11 in the arts and modern design for the perceived value this art have on customers. This competition has prompted the need for an art exhibition among the matatu industry which is held annually at the Kenyatta international convention center by the stakeholders in this industry. The matatu plying route 44/45 are best known with their comical quotes written in sheng, “BAZUKA” a matatu along this route had a quote that read, “HATUTAKI SUMBUA” meaning they do not want bothersome characters.

At Ronald Ngala Street, where these route 44/45 operate in town left me with spoilt for choice as “YOUNG MONEY” screeched to a stop with blasting music and constant hooting that could be heard as far as NEMA offices. “FAST AND THE FURIUOS” route 1960 Kayole clearly put to word how brutal they operate along Jogoo road. The matatus along the 1960 route are driven at a speed next to non in Nairobi perhaps next to a missile.

The interiors of these public vehicles are so customized that passengers do relish their ride to their destination. To start with the sits are bolstered with soft material that ensure a passenger is not thumped whenever the vehicle encounters potholes or bumps. Each passenger is ensured a comfy seat all along the journey to or from the city.

LCD display

Blasting music is the order of the day in these matatu. All around the streets music is heard from the vehicle ranging from all genres of music as they hoot to entice passengers into their matatu. The music systems fitted in these vehicles is out of the ordinary as crystal clear sound HD systems ensure you enjoy good music awaiting your destination.

Some of these matatus are also fitted with LCD visual display unit for the passengers to enjoy audio visual entertainment with others going to an extension of offering free Wi-Fi for internet connectivity. A matatu belonging to route 9 Eastleigh was fitted with 31 inch screen size that was tuned to soccer channels 24/7. This was an excellent marketing strategy considering how Kenyans are affiliated to English premier league or soccer as a sport.

UV dispays

The kind of music played in these vehicles is of diverse genre depending on what is currently on top music charts in main stream media or the taste of music the crew members of the vehicle are affiliated towards. But the most played genre is that of reggae followed by hip-hop. Some do play local music popularly known as Genge.

At night these vehicles turn out to be sailing ships on land due to the magnificent electric diodes running along the curves of the vehicle. Some run from the front side of the vehicle along both sides running down and completing the pattern with elegant display of this UV light that blink at different intervals and colors.

The tires rims are comparable to those of sports cars. Some vehicles do have double caps on these rims in that when the car starts to move an illusion is created in that the caps seem to rotate in opposite direction with the rotation of the entire wheel.

Some of these matatus have to gone an extent in attention seeking by fitting whistles in the exhaust pipes that make a very sharp noise when the vehicle accelerate. You can actually tell which vehicle is coming depending on the whistle coming from it.