BasiGo Partners With OMA Services To Bring Electric Buses To More Routes In Nairobi

BasiGo, the Kenyan electric mobility startup working to revolutionize the public transportation sector by providing public transport bus owners with a cost-effective electric alternative to diesel buses, has delivered BYD K6 electric buses to another operator in Nairobi.

Last week, BasiGo delivered buses to OMA services and the buses will be plying the CBD – BuruBuru – Civil Servants estate (CIVO) route. On this route, the buses will be fully cashless operating on the Sasapay platform, with payments being on the ubiquitous mobile money platform Mpesa. Last week was a big week for BasiGo as it also delivered the first of 5 K6 electric buses to Super Metro Sacco, one of Nairobi’s other leading public transport operators.

It’s really great to see that the fleet of electric buses in Nairobi is growing thanks to BasiGo’s innovative Pay-As-You-Drive Model that lowers the batteries to entry for operators to get brand new electric buses. Here is a summary of BasiGo’s Pay-As-You-Drive:

• A single daily subscription fee charged per km driven
• Billed and paid directly between the operator and BasiGo.
• Includes nightly charging of the battery.
• Includes all standard service and maintenance for the bus
• Free battery replacement in the event of any battery issue.
• Includes dedicated customer care, roadside assistance, free software upgrades, and more.

Since launching in March 2022, BasiGo’s electric buses have driven over 150,000 kilometers and carried over 200,000 passengers as part of fleet operations with 2 Nairobi bus operators. BasiGo plans to supply over 1,000 locally manufactured mass transit electric buses to transport operators in Kenya over the next three years.

Here’s a rundown of the current routes in Nairobi where you can get on one of the K6 electric buses:

1. Citi Hoppa: CBD – Allsops-Airport
2. East Shuttle: City Stadium – Buruburu – Dandora
3. Super Metro: CBD – Kikuyu
4. OMA: CBD – Civil Servants (CIVO)

You can track the buses live here:

https://smartbus-locator.basi-go.com/

It’s great to see that these electric buses continue to be added to more routes around Nairobi. Electric buses deployed locally on more routes are the best way to allow the majority of people to access and experience the world of electric mobility. The buses will be assembled locally as well in Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast, boosting local industry and creating the much needed job opportunities.

A recent report by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research Analysis (Kippra) says 8 out of 10 Nairobians walk or use matatus (small to medium size commuter buses) to work. The study found that 58.7% of Nairobi residents use these minibuses (matatus) to get to their places of work and 17.1% walk to work. So, we can see that these matatus play a critical role in Nairobi’s transport sector. The article also says there are about 10,000 matatus operating in and around Nairobi. Accelerating the adoption of electric buses is therefore critical to reducing tailpipe emissions and improving air quality in the city.

Kenya has an installed electricity generation capacity of 3,321 MW. The peak demand is 2,132 MW. However, it is the low overnight off-peak demand of 1,100 MW that Kenya Power wants to exploit initially to power Kenya’s transition to electric mobility. Renewables provided about 90% of Kenya’s electricity generation in 2021 thanks to contributions from geothermal, wind, hydro, and some utility-scale solar. Electric vehicles in Kenya will be charged using some very clean electricity.

Images courtesy of BasiGo