Tough times? Nairobi’s middle class resort to carpooling as high fuel prices bite

It’s 5:00 am in Nairobi's Utawala area. Thomas is already up – ready to start his day.

Thomas takes a good three minutes checking his car. It’s a Mitsubishi Outlander – a car he bought only a few years ago.

All the seats are taken – or rather ‘booked’ – his passengers for the morning being his neighbours.

Most of them (the neighbours) have cars – but today their cars will be spending time at home.

Thomas works in Upper Hill area of Nairobi. It’s a demanding job that keeps him and his car away from home for most hours of the week – which means more fuel.

This morning as he leaves his home – his phone rings. It’s one of his neighbours – a carpool buddy – asking to be picked at a certain spot.

Thomas and his neighbours have an arrangement between them – which allows them to make regular journey in a single car to the Nairobi Central Business District (CBD). In this arrangement – they each take turns to drive the others to work on a certain day or week.  

According to Thomas – such carpooling arrangements is not a passing fad especially for new homeowners living outside of Nairobi – especially now that cost of fuel has shot up.

“You will see many people choosing to park their cars back at home because of high cost of fuel,” said Thomas.

“The alternative is to find a carpool buddy that you can work with to survive these tough times,” he adds.

Some of the residents who spoke to Wananchi Reporting said they have resorted to carpooling so they can divide the travel expenses equally between all the occupants of the vehicle.

“Our incomes have largely remained the same over the years – but prices of commodities have almost doubled. You have to be smart to survive,” said Jarred Oloo – a resident of Utawala.

According to Thomas, the driver (of the day) does not try to earn money, but to share with several people the cost of a trip he would do anyway.

The expenses to be divided basically include the fuel and possible tolls.

To avoid overusing one vehicle – which could lead to the owner incurring maintenance expenses due to tear and wear – they often change vehicles.

“There are days when we don’t use my car, instead another individual volunteers to drive us to town and back in his/her car – but we pool resources together to help with fuel,” says Thomas – noting that each individual pays between Sh300 and Sh400 from home to town and back. The amount could change depending on many factors.

According to recent reports, fuel consumption between January and June 2023 dropped to the lowest levels in more than five years, amid high pump prices that depressed demand and pushed the middle class to keep their cars at home.

Official data show that consumption of super petrol dropped five percent to 1.01 billion litres from 1.074 billion litres last year while that of diesel fell four percent to 1.31 billion litres compared to 1.36 billion in the same period.

In Nairobi, a litre of petrol under the new pump price guidelines is Ksh 217.36 diesel Ksh 205.47 and kerosene Ksh 205.06.

Others are resorting to leave their cars at home – and only using them occasionally.

Mary Nyambura who works in Karen told Wananchi Reporting that she drives her car sparingly to avoid spending on fuel.

“I drive to work only twice a week. The rest of the days I use public means of transport,” she said.

Kenyans have had to tighten their belts after prices of fuel and other basic commodities shot up.