Commuters in the country will have to smile in the coming month should the cabinet adopt a amendments to the traffic and the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) by the ministry of transport.
According to Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia, the amendments seek to protect the public against PSVs exploitation by increasing fares across the country.
The amendments draft was presented to the National Assembly Transport and Housing Committee on Tuesday by Chief Administrative Secretary Chris Obure.
Mr. Obure said the proposals are at an advanced stage with the legal department in the ministry and will soon be presented to the Cabinet for adoption before being presented to Parliament.
By amending section 119 (1) of the Traffic Act to introducing a new sub-section, the ministry want the Cabinet Secretary to prescribe the regulation of PSV fare tariffs.
In the new law, the Cabinet Secretary will have a legal mandate to determine the formulae for establishing the tariff, review mechanism of the tariff and penalty for non-compliance.
Public Service Vehicles have been exploiting the public for years with an increase in fare tarriffs, shifting blames to increased price of petroleum products.
In October last year, the 16% VAT introduced to petroleum products made Commuters suffer from hiked fire by Matatu operators.
However, despite President Uhuru Kenyatta announcing a reduction to 8% and the energy regulatory commission effecting reduction in prices of petroleum products, PSVs have continued exploiting the public by hiking fares.
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