Nairobi — The number of new matatus registered in the country continued to decline in 2021 as a majority of Kenyans kept off the business due to low returns.
During the year, the industry was still faced with tough Covid-19 restrictive measures such as reduced capacity, inter-county travel restrictions and curfews.
This saw the sector suffer losses in millions as the regulations saw earnings dip.
Data from the Economic Survey 2022 shows that registration of new minibuses/matatus dropped by 24.2 per cent from 1.084 units in 2020 to 822 units in 2021.
The number of new buses registered also dropped from 900 in 2020 to 893 in 2021.
In 2020, the number of newly registered minibuses/matatus also dropped by 43.9 per cent to 1,084 from 1,932 units in 2019.
Further, there was a 12.6 per cent drop in the number of PSV licenses issued to matatus from 36,323 in 2020 to 31,737 in 2021.
Even so, the number of PSV bus licenses issued increased by 58.1 per cent to 11,919 while those of mini buses doubled to 11,699 during the period under review.
The pandemic dealt the matatu industry major blows, but it is steadily recovering since the resumption of full capacity in August 2021 and the curfew being dropped.
Overall, the number of newly registered motor vehicles rose by 14.2 per cent from 94,128 units in 2020 to 107,499 units in 2021.
Station wagons accounted for the bulk of newly registered vehicles and rose from 57,962 registered units in 2020 to 64,350 units in 2021.
Similarly, there was an increase in registration of saloon cars (5.4 per cent), Lorries and Trucks (9.2 per cent), trailers (33.8 per cent) and wheeled tractors (10.7 per cent).
The number of newly registered motorcycles and three-wheelers increased by 15.4 per cent from 252,601 units in 2020 to 291,553 units in 2021.