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  • GEO Perspektive 07/2024: Wer geht, wer bleibt

Christian Bobst Photography

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27 images Created 29 Oct 2019

Matatu Metropolis

In western countries, public transport is generally considered environmentally friendly and positive for air quality and the CO2 footprint. In Nairobi, Kenya's capital, there is no such thing. Tens of thousands of old, scrappy buses pollute the air, clog the roads and bring traffic in the big city to an almost complete standstill every day.

One one hand, the Matatus are heavily polluting the air in Nairobi. The World Health Organisation estimates that almost 19,000 people die prematurely in Kenya every year as a result of air pollution, including many children, and a large proportion of these deaths are certainly due to the Matatus, as buses in Kenya are called.

On the other hand, the Matatus are much more than just a means of transport, they are also part of the youth culture. Every single Matatu is a rolling work of art in itself. In order to make the old buses more attractive, the owners of the Matatus have the buses pimped not only with artistic graffiti, but also with crazy interiors, potent sound systems, screens on walls and seats, colourful interior lighting. Some Matatus even show off with exclusive DJ mixes.

Most bus drivers leave the engines of their buses running all day long. On the one hand because the LED screens and board entertainment systems inside would otherwise drain the vehicle's battery in no time, and on the other hand because the bus drivers want to make people believe that the bus will be leaving shortly, eager to attract more passengers,

As a consequence, all over Nairobi, one of the world’s most gridlocked cities, thousands of Matatus idle their engines, sending millions of small harmful, polluting particles into the city’s air. Although the Matatus clog the roads and pollute the air, politicians have difficulty enforcing stricter rules, This is due to the fact that they create hundreds of thousands of jobs, but maybe also because many politicans own Matatus themselves and earn a lot of money from this lucrative business.

Year: 2019
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  • Nairobi, August 2, 2019. Collins Birage (25) is a Makanga (conductor) of one of hundreds of Matatus which are every day lining up while waiting for passangers in front of the Nairobi Railways Bus Station, the largest bus station in Nairobi. The Matatus feed many people, including the conductors, the owners, but also police officers and city councils. And the national transport authorities also demand money for the routes. The Makangas earn as much as is left after deducting the payment of all these people.
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  • The sun sets over Makongeni, an urban district of Nairobi, one of Africa‘s most developed cities. The cityscape of the metropolis is not only characterized by numerous skyscrapers, but also by countless buses which are decorated with graffitis. These so-called Matatus are so numerous that they clog the streets and contribute to the fact that the traffic in Nairobi comes to an almost complete standstill several times a day.
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  • Makangas of a Matatu, which is dedicated to the superhero Batman, advertise passengers in the roundabout of the Railway Bus Station. The main task of the Makangas, apart from collecting money, is to recruit passengers. The job is tough. The Makangas work long hours running around and don‘t sleep much. There are also many clashes with rude passangers and corrupt police officers who want to improve their salaries.
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  • The Hot Wheel Matatu stops in the centre of Nairobi to let passengers board for Rongai. The bus looks like an oversized toy car. The Matatu lives up to its name with its fast and furious driving style. The Matatu industry creates a significant amount of jobs in Nairobi, which might be one reason while politicians are hesitant to enforce stricter rules for the buses. Another reason might be that many politicians are Matatu owners themselves.
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  • Bahati Kimathi (23), a Makanga of the Hot-Wheel-Matatu, performs daring and illegal stunts in the open bus door in order to impress their passengers. It is not a rare incident that the conductors of the Matatus pay for this kind of boldness with their lives.
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  • A Makanga and a passenger wait at the Nairobi Railway Station for the departure of their Matatus. N.W.A. stands for „Niggas With Attitude“, a gangster rap group from Los Angeles that was considered revolutionary in the 80s. Every Matatu has a theme. Movies, actors or musicians are the most popular ones, such as Batman, Spiderman, House of Cards, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj the Kardashanians.
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  • The Mixtape Matatu makes a „pit stop“ at a gas station in Rongai in order to to refuel and let passengers board the bus. It.drives back and forth on the Ongata Line, which connects the suburb Rongai with the Nairobi Railway Bus Station. Matatu owners compete to put the most exciting bus on the road, a rolling work of art. 100 Kenya shillings costs a ride with his bus „mixtape“, the equivalent of roughly 1 US Dollar, at peak times rhe fare might even rise to 150 shillings.
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  • The Mixtape Matatu runs between the suburb of Rongai and the city centre of Nairobi. A DJ regularly mixes the latest music videos for the Matatu, which are shown on screens on the walls and seats of the bus. There is Matatus for every every taste in music: Hiphop, ragga, afrobeat, gospel and traditional music. There are passengers who drive the buses just for fun, for example to watch the latest music videos or TV series.
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  • A street vendor in Rongai offers the ppassengers of the Mixtape Matatu peanuts for sale. The Nyangas, as the flashy matatus are called, are decorated with artistic Graffitis, and pimped with spoilers and extensions, crazy interior designs and on board entertainment. The cost of pimping an old bus can be up to 1.5 million Kenyan Shillings, around 15,000 US Dollars. One Matatu, they say, feeds about ten people on average.
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  • Nairobi, September 28, 2019. On the LED screens in the Mastermind-Matatu boxing fights are shown while the bus waits for passangers at Tom Mboya Street in Nairobi. Like many matatus, the bus is equipped with colored interior lighting, LED screens and Wifi on board in order entertain the passengers. The entertainment pays off: The conductors have to fill some 30 seats. The faster the bus is full, the more tours they can do, the more money they can earn.
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  • At the roundabout in front of the Railway Station, the historicNairobis railway station, the Matatus are particularly numerous because many passengers board there. Nairobi is one of the most modern cities in Africa. The cityscape is not only characterized by numerous skyscrapers and bustling streets with countless pedestrians, but also by the countless colorful Matatus.
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  • Trizah Mokua (28), called Stacey, poses in front of her Matatu, which is waiting for passengers at Nairobi Railways Bus Station. Stacey is one of only two Matatu drivers working at Nairobi‘s largest bus station. Her bus is not one of the fancy ones. Passengers on her route to the slum Kibera can‘t afford that. French footballers are painted on her Matatu, the paint is heavily scraped off. „Some of the drivers deliberately ram me,“ says Stacey. „They don‘t like independent women, they see me as a competitor.“
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  • In the Central Business District, the Matatus are so numerous that they often congest the streets almost completely and thus make a not inconsiderable contribution to the fact that traffic in the centre of Nairobi often comes to a complete standstill. the Matatu business has become a huge industry, estimated to generate revenues of two billion US dollars annually, employing up to 350,000 people. 80,000 matatus cross the country, and it is estimated that there are between 20,000 and 40,000 buses in Nairobi.
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  • An Uber driver is stuck in a traffic jam between Matatus and cars in the Nairobis‘ Central Business District. In the Kenyan capital  the classic taxis are also more and more replaced by the cheaper internet service Uber. But the Matatus are still the cheapest means of transport in Kenya. If the traffic jams the journey with the Uber can become very expensive and offers not even a speed advantage compared to the Matatus. The fare to the Matatus, on the other hand, is only slightly higher during the rush hours.
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  • Nairobi, August 02, 2019 - Reuben Kenyanya (51), a conductor, poses inside a Matatu at the Nairobi Railways Bus Station. Bus conductors are called Makangas in Kenya. The job is tough, he says. He works long hours and doesn't sleep much. There are also many clashes with corrupt police officers and rude passengers. Reuben works in an old, rundown bus on the line between the city centre and the slum of Kibera. Most people in Kibera can´t afford the flashy, tuned Matatus with fancy entertainment and Wifi on board. The Matatus feed many people, including the conductors, the owners and Sacco managers, but also police officers, cartels and city councils. And the national transport authorities also demand money for the routes. The Makangas earn as much as is left after deducting the payment of all these people. "We do this work mainly because of our children", he says with a serene look on his face.
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  • Ein obdachloser Mann schläft im Central Business District (CBD) in Nairobi seinen Rausch aus, während ein Nicki-Minage-Matatu auf Fahrgäste wartet und Passanten ihrem Tagesgeschäft nachgehen.
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  • Ein Boda-Boda Fahrer wartet in Rongai an einer Matatu-Haltestelle auf Fahrgäste. Motorradtaxis – in Kenia Boda-Boda´s genannt, sind in den chronisch verstopften Strassen Nairobis die schnellere, aber auch die gefährlichere und teurere Alternative zu den Matatus. Wer es nicht allzu eilig hat, zieht deshalb die Fahrt mit den Matatus meist vor.
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  • Nairobi, July 29, 2019 - Dennis Muraguri (39) stands in his atelier in Nairobi. He describes himself as a multimedia artist, working in the fields of painting, graphics and sculpture, but he has a special passion for Matatus. He has become famous for his „Matatu Art“ in Kenya. In his colorful handmade prints, Dennis explores the Matatus and the urban culture of contemporary Nairobi.
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  • Nozy Customs (28) is a graffiti artist who works at the Enlight Garage in Buru Buru Phase 1 District of Nairobi. He uses a stock library image as a reference for his graffiti artwork- The references were selected by John Kamau (44), the owner of the Matatu who sits down to supervise the process. Because the Matatus are so numerous, they must be decorated with eye-catching motifs to stand out from the crowd.
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  • In the Buru Buru Phase 1 district of Nairobi, craftsmen are pimping matatus in a garage. The matatus in Nairobi are very numerous and must always be decorated with new themed motifs in order to stand out from the competition and remain attractive to passengers. The numerous matatus create many jobs in Nairobi. Even though their number clogs the city's roads and contributes to the total breakdown of traffic in the city several times a day, politicians find it difficult to enforce stricter rules for matatus. Many politicians also own matatus themselves and make money from the lucrative private transport business.
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  • Nairobi, July 30, 2019. Mohamed Kartarchand Bagatiram Rala Ram (42), also called "Moha", is Kenya?s most famous graffiti artist and a star in Nairobi. He claims that he invented the idea of pimping old Matatus with flashy Graffitis some twenty years ago and started a trend. Meanwhile ten thousands of graffiti-covered Matatus drive trough Nairobi¿s streets, each one a rolling artwork with eye catching graffitis and crazy interior designs. Besides creating the graffiti art for Matatus, Moha and his employees build spoilers and extensions, design the interior of the buses, and also install the technology for video and audio. The cost of pimping an old bus can be up to 1.5 million Kenyan Shillings, around 15,000 US Dollars. Moha likes to show his success by wearing two expensive swiss watches and by flashing a bright smile which exposes a complete raw silver-plated teeth once he removes his respiratory protective mask, which he uses while he is airbrushing Matatus and cars.
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  • Nairobi, September 27, 2019. Mechanics in a garage in Buru Buru Phase 1 fix the engine of a Matatu, while Scooby Doo & Co. seem to watch them with a certain surprise and astonishment. . The mechanics earn about 150 USD a month, which is about ten percent of the average monthly profit which an owner usually makes with one Matatu after paying all expenses including the bribes for the traffic police.
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  • In the Enlight garage in the Buru Buru Phase 1 district of Nairobi, a welder improves the exterior of an older Matatus, which gets newly priepped up and sprayed with graffitis. The fact that the picture looks as if the craftsman is giving fire to the figure on the Matatu can be seen as a meaningful coincidence, as the Makangas (conductor) and Matatu drivers are said to be soned on duty most of the time.
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  • Bahati Kimathi (23), ein Makanga (Schaffner) des Hot-Wheel-Matatus zählt auf der Fahrt von Rongai zum Stadtzentrum Nairobis seine Einnahmen. Auch das Hot-Wheel-Matatu ist mit zahlreichen Screens und einer kraftvollen Musikanlage ausgestattet, auf welchen in Konzertlautstärke Musikvideos gespielt werden.
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  • Ian Mwangi, 24, runs around at the bus stop of the Massai Lodge in Rongai. He seems to be on speed, says he eats 4 meals a day because he always has to be on his feet. When asked what the gas mask is for, he makes some jokes about an Ebola outbreak. In fact he wears it only to attract attention. Ian is a Makanga, a conductor for a Matatu. He wants to get as many passengers as possible on his bus as quickly as possible. The more passengers the Makangas recruit, the more they earn.
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  • The buses which commute between Nairobi and the suburb Rongai are known for its Nganyas, as the most spectacularly pimped Matatus are called. This Matatu here is dedicated to Batman, the interior is inspired by Batman‘s cave. One could call Nairobi with its modern skyscrapers and the exhaust clouds the Gottham of Africa. In former times the city was also called „Nairobbery“.
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  • Residents of Nairobi return home from work in the evening. Colourful competitiveness and the thrive for progress seem to part of the DNA of Nairobi‘s inhabitants. Techies and reformers are working on digitalising the fares for Matatus and on electrifying their engines. Perhaps soon electric-buses will be whizzing through Nairobi, making the colourful Matatus more eco-friendly in the future.
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