[caption id="attachment_4786" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Passengers boarding a Matatu (Photo: IBJ)"][/caption]

Bus fares in the country are set to go up starting Monday due to the increased prices of fuel. This is going too affect public transport and the cost of transportation of commodities.

Matatu operators say they are going to increase fare prices to protect their profit margins. Matatu Welfare Association (MWA) national vice chairman Mr Ali Salim Bates says fare increment will be inevitable due to the increase in fuel prices. Mr. Bates says the passengers will have to bear that burden to the passengers. This means Kenyans will have to dig deeper into their pockets to meet the extra fares that matatus started charging Monday morning on some routes.

An estimated 20 million Kenyans use public transport every day. On major routes in Nairobi, there was a fare increase of KES 10 to KES 30 during the morning rush of Monday 16th. This was partly due to the rain that caused snarl ups and to the fuel increase too. Most fuel stations did not have supplies on Sunday something motorists claimed was a deliberate move by stations to cash in on the price increase.

In a statement released by the Energy Regulatory Commission Saturday, the pump price of Super petrol in Nairobi has increased by KES 6.81 to KES 118.50 per litre. Diesel prices increased by KES 3.67 to KES 108.8 and Kerosene by KES 2.81 to KES 86.28.

The increment has been attributed to increase in cost of crude and refining at the overwhelmed Changamwe refinery. The crude oil processing refinery is set for a $1 billion upgrade subject to the approval by the environment regulator, reports have indicated.