For many Kenyan commuters, shouting by matatu crews, aggressive attempts to attract passengers and competition between vehicles for customers are familiar scenes at stages and bus stops.
But there is a legal boundary between legitimately informing passengers about a vehicle’s destination and conduct that amounts to touting, harassment, annoyance or intimidation.
Kenyan law expressly regulates this behaviour.
The Traffic Act prohibits touting for passengers in circumstances that cause or are likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or danger to the public. Public Service Vehicle regulations go further by requiring operators to ensure that drivers, conductors and other commuter-service staff do not tout or harass passengers and other people waiting to board vehicles. Kenya Law
This guide forms part of the Metros Kenya Public Transport Laws in Kenya database.
What Is Matatu Touting?
Touting is commonly associated with people calling out destinations, competing for passengers or attempting to persuade commuters to board particular vehicles.
Legally, however, the issue is more specific.
Section 103 of Kenya’s Traffic Act prohibits a person seeking passengers for a public service vehicle from making noise, sounding an instrument or doing something that causes or is likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or danger to the public. PolicyVault.Africa
This means the legal issue is not merely that somebody spoke to a prospective passenger.
The nature of the conduct and its effect on the public matter.
PSV Regulations Also Prohibit Touting and Harassment
The National Transport and Safety Authority (Operation of Public Service Vehicles) Regulations, 2014 provide an additional and particularly clear rule for commuter services.
Regulation 9 requires every commuter-service operator to ensure that a driver, conductor or other staff member working in the vehicle does not tout, make loud noise or harass passengers or other people in or waiting to board the vehicle. Kenya Law
That provision is important because it expressly mentions harassment, not merely touting.
It also extends protection beyond people who have already boarded the matatu.
People waiting to board are covered by the wording of the regulation as well.
Can a Conductor Call Out a Matatu’s Destination?
This requires some distinction.
The Traffic Act does not say that every announcement of a destination automatically constitutes an offence.
Section 103 focuses on conduct used to obtain passengers that causes or is likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or danger. Regulation 9 separately prohibits touting, loud noise and harassment by commuter-service staff. Kenya Law
Therefore, simply telling a commuter where a vehicle is going should not automatically be equated with every form of prohibited conduct.
The problem arises when passenger solicitation crosses into behaviour prohibited by the applicable legislation.
Can Matatu Crews Pull or Grab Passengers?
The PSV regulations do not give a conductor authority to physically compel somebody to board a vehicle.
Instead, operators are required under Regulation 7 to ensure that passengers are treated courteously. Regulation 9 additionally prohibits commuter-service staff from harassing passengers and people waiting to board. Kenya Law
A commuter therefore does not lose the freedom to choose a vehicle simply because several matatus are competing for passengers at a stage.
Physical grabbing or other unwanted conduct could also potentially engage laws outside the PSV regulatory framework depending on exactly what occurred. Those consequences would depend on the facts of the particular incident.
For the purposes of public transport regulation, however, the key point is straightforward:
Passenger harassment is expressly prohibited.
What About Following a Passenger Who Has Said No?
Persistent unwanted solicitation can move beyond ordinary communication and become harassment or conduct causing annoyance or inconvenience.
The law should therefore not be interpreted as giving matatu staff an unrestricted right to pursue passengers simply because they are attempting to fill a vehicle.
Regulation 9 specifically requires commuter-service operators to prevent their staff from harassing people who are awaiting to board a vehicle. Kenya Law
A commuter is entitled to decide which vehicle to use.
What About Shouting and Loud Noise at Matatu Stages?
Loud noise is specifically addressed in the PSV regulations.
Regulation 9 says commuter-service staff must not tout, make loud noise or harass passengers or other persons in or awaiting to board a vehicle. Kenya Law
The Traffic Act also prohibits noise or other conduct used to obtain passengers where it causes or is likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or danger to the public. PolicyVault.Africa
This provides a statutory basis for controlling some of the aggressive passenger solicitation commonly associated with busy public transport stages.
Operators Are Responsible for Their Crews
These rules are not directed only at individual conductors.
The 2014 regulations place obligations on the operator.
Regulation 9 begins by requiring every operator of a commuter-service vehicle to ensure that the driver, conductor and other staff comply with the listed requirements. Kenya Law
This matters because matatu regulation in Kenya is structured around licensed operators, including SACCOs and companies.
Metros Kenya explains these wider responsibilities in Matatu SACCO Rules in Kenya: Responsibilities of PSV Operators.
Operators cannot therefore treat the conduct of crews towards passengers as completely separate from their own regulatory responsibilities.
Passengers Must Be Treated Courteously
There is another important provision.
Regulation 7 requires operators of licensed PSVs to ensure that passengers are treated courteously. Kenya Law
Taken together with the prohibition on harassment under Regulation 9, the rules establish a basic standard for interaction between PSV staff and commuters.
This complements the protections explained in Metros Kenya’s Matatu Passenger Rights in Kenya: What the Law Says.
A passenger paying for public transport is not surrendering the right to reasonable treatment.
Is Touting a Traffic Offence?
Yes.
Section 103 of the Traffic Act makes prohibited touting an offence.
The Act provides for a fine of up to KSh30,000 for a first conviction. For a second or subsequent conviction, the penalty can rise to a fine of up to KSh50,000 or imprisonment for up to 12 months. The court may also order confiscation of the instrument used to commit the offence. PolicyVault.Africa
There is, however, an important distinction between the maximum statutory penalty following conviction and a prescribed minor-offence fine.
Kenya’s Traffic (Minor Offences) Rules have separately listed touting under section 103 with a KSh3,000 prescribed penalty. African Gazettes Archive
Those figures should not be treated as contradictory: they arise from different enforcement mechanisms.
Does the Law Apply Only to Conductors?
No.
Section 103 of the Traffic Act refers broadly to “no person” engaging in the prohibited conduct for the purpose of obtaining passengers for a PSV. PolicyVault.Africa
The 2014 PSV regulations specifically cover the driver, conductor or any other staff member employed to work in the vehicle. Kenya Law
The legal restrictions therefore cannot simply be avoided by describing the person soliciting passengers as something other than the conductor.
Why Is Touting Regulated?
Matatu stages can involve several vehicles competing simultaneously for the same passengers.
Without controls, that competition can spill into noise, obstruction, aggressive solicitation and conflict between crews.
The legal framework consequently attempts to distinguish ordinary public transport operations from conduct that interferes with commuters or the wider public.
The same approach explains why PSVs are also restricted in where they can collect passengers.
Metros Kenya’s Matatu Stages and Bus Stop Laws in Kenya explains the rules governing designated bus stops, stages and passenger pick-up and drop-off points.
What Should a Passenger Do When Harassed?
A commuter facing harassment should prioritise personal safety rather than escalating a confrontation.
Where practical, useful information can include the vehicle registration number, SACCO or company name, route, location, approximate time and a clear description of what happened.
This is particularly relevant because the PSV regulations require operators to maintain a complaints system and to report the number and nature of passenger complaints received, together with the action taken, in their quarterly reports to NTSA. Kenya Law
Serious incidents involving threats, violence or other potentially criminal conduct should be treated according to their seriousness and may warrant reporting to the police rather than being regarded merely as poor customer service.
Matatu Staff Have Wider Conduct Rules
Touting and harassment are only part of the obligations applying to matatu crews.
Drivers and conductors are also subject to requirements concerning identification, working conditions, routes, passenger treatment and other aspects of PSV operation.
Metros Kenya’s Matatu Driver and Conductor Rules in Kenya explains those responsibilities in more detail.
The Matatu Driver Working Hours in Kenya: What the Law Says guide also examines the working-time protections applying to commuter-service crews.
The Bottom Line
Kenyan law does not treat aggressive passenger solicitation as an unavoidable part of travelling by matatu.
The Traffic Act prohibits passenger solicitation involving conduct that causes or is likely to cause annoyance, inconvenience or danger. The PSV regulations go further by expressly requiring commuter-service operators to ensure their staff do not tout, make loud noise or harass passengers or people waiting to board. Kenya Law
Matatu crews can provide passengers with information about their service, but competing for passengers does not provide a licence to intimidate, harass or create a public nuisance.
For commuters, the principle is simple:
Choosing a matatu is the passenger’s decision. Competition between operators does not override that choice.
This article provides general public information about Kenya’s public transport laws and should not be treated as individual legal advice.
