Kenya’s leading transport sacco, 2NK is set to adopt a new Fleet Management System in a bid to gain more control of its 550 vehicles.

The sacco which pioneered parcel delivery by matatu vehicles is set to launch the new system in January 2013.

“We want to reduce accidents on our roads and to manage our vehicles professionally,” said the sacco’s chairman James Kahiro. Estimates show that the sacco’s members will save nearly Sh40 million annually by sealing loopholes through which money is lost.

The new system which is being fitted by Frotcom East Africa Ltd and Airtel Kenya will allow the management to track all vehicles within the country. The system will involve insertion of a gadget that will allow geo-tracking of the more than 550 vehicles in the sacco’s fleet. It will provide details of the vehicle including the number, the driver and the route the vehicle is plying.

According to the chairman, one of its main advantages is the ability to notify the sacco management in case of over-speeding.

“It will enable us to see the way the vehicle is moving and in case of over-speeding we will be able to contact the driver. This will help us to manage over-speeding which is the biggest cause of carnage on our roads,” said Mr Kahiro.

The system will also help the sacco management to track petrol consumption in their vehicles, minimising possibility of theft by drivers.

It will also give alerts when a vehicle diverts from its intended route. This is expected to assist in cases of carjacking or vehicle theft.

The system will also keep performance records of each vehicle for a long duration which can later be retrieved for assessment.

Through the system, the management will know at what time the driver started working and what time he spent on the road.

According to the chairman, the sacco is embracing the new system to help it enforce the new traffic regulations. “ICT is the way to go in business today and we want to do this to enforce compliance to traffic rules rather than evasion,” said Mr Kahiro.

The 2NK chairman has urged other transport saccos in the country to follow suit and acquire similar management systems.

2NK sacco was formed in 1993 as one of the first transport saccos in the country by a few matatu owners plying the Nyeri-Nairobi route.

The society enabled members to pool resources and implement market-oriented strategies at a time when the sector was famed for anarchy and lack of courtesy.

Today the sacco has a membership of 400 matatu owners and has advanced loans to the tune of more than quarter a billion shillings to members.

Some of the sacco’s investments include two petrol stations, a petroleum tanker, and an insurance agency that serves members and the public.

But the sacco’s most notable initiative that transformed the industry was setting up of parcel delivery services.

Source : abdas.org