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Transportation

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A blue and white Likoni ferry packed with passengers crosses the channel towards Mombasa Island under a clear sky.
Transportation
Theme
PillarInfrastructure

Transportation is a theme of the Infrastructure pillar. It covers the roads, rail, ferries, airports and public transport that move people and goods across the coast. The region's links are busy at the centre and thin at the edges: more than 400,000 people and 6,000 vehicles cross the Likoni channel in Mombasa each day,[1] while the Rural Access Index was 95 per cent in Mombasa but 13 per cent in Lamu and 11 per cent in Tana River in 2019.[2]

What this page is for

This is the shared starting point for transport on the coast: please add the projects, organisations, data and stakeholder views you know about, so that everyone can read them side by side.

Transportation on the coast today

Road access varies sharply. In 2019 the Rural Access Index stood at 95 per cent in Mombasa County, 63 per cent in Kwale County, 48 per cent in Taita-Taveta County, 35 per cent in Kilifi County, 13 per cent in Lamu County and 11 per cent in Tana River County, against 62.9 per cent nationally.[2] Kilifi reports maintaining 1,556 km of roads against a target of 2,500 km over its last plan period, and paving 50 km.[3]

Mombasa island depends on its crossings. The Likoni ferry, now managed by the Kenya Ports Authority, carries more than 400,000 people a day, and in September 2025 the authority announced a Sh10 billion, 24-month upgrade of the mainland landing.[1] The Dongo Kundu bypass offers a road route around the channel: its first 10 km section, from the port's second container terminal to the Nairobi highway near Mazeras, opened in 2018 at a cost of Sh11 billion,[4] and the southern section towards the Likoni-Lunga Lunga road opened in August 2024, with only part of it open to the public and the works 96 per cent complete.[5]

Within Mombasa most trips are made on foot or by public transport: a 2020 study found that 45 per cent of residents walk and 36 per cent use public transport, mostly some 4,000 matatus, while only 3 per cent use a private vehicle.[6] The Madaraka Express on the standard gauge railway carried 2.7 million passengers in 2025, up from 2.4 million in 2024 after a fare rise, and the line moved 7.5 million tonnes of freight.[7] Moi International Airport handled about 1.7 million passengers in 2025, up from about 1.6 million the year before, according to Kenya Airports Authority data.[8]

Plans and policy

Nationally, the Lamu Port, South Sudan, Ethiopia Transport (LAPSSET) programme, part of Kenya Vision 2030, links a port at Lamu to highways, railways, pipelines, airports and resort cities.[9] The 257 km Lamu-Garissa road, upgraded to bitumen at a cost of about Sh60 billion, was due for completion in February 2025.[10] In Mombasa, the Kenya National Highways Authority is preparing the Mombasa Gate Bridge, a 1.4 km crossing of the Likoni channel costing about Ksh85 billion and financed by Japan, which in August 2026 was completing design verification ahead of tendering.[11]

The county plans for 2023-2027 add local priorities. Mombasa reports work with JICA towards an intelligent transport system to ease congestion at junctions.[12] Lamu plans to tarmac several rural roads, upgrade the Mkunumbi, Manda and Faza airstrips, build jetties and keep a public water transport service on the Lamu-Faza route.[13] Kilifi reports building two new bus parks,[3] and Taita Taveta expects a new Madaraka Express stop to help local business and tourism.[14] The plan's own transport proposals include Mombasa Electric Ferry and Water Transport System and Pwani Express Coastal Rail.

Who is involved

National agencies lead most of the large works: the Kenya National Highways Authority on trunk roads and the Gate Bridge,[11] Kenya Railways on the standard gauge railway,[7] the Kenya Airports Authority at Moi International Airport,[8] the Kenya Ports Authority at the Likoni crossing,[1] and the LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority in Lamu.[9] County governments plan local roads, bus parks, jetties and airstrips in their development plans, as described above. JICA has supported the Gate Bridge design and Mombasa's traffic studies,[11][15] and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy has drafted a public transport plan for Mombasa.[6] Matatu, tuk-tuk and boda boda operators carry much of Mombasa's daily travel.[6]

Open questions

Ferry, bridge or both? After a bus and a truck fell from the Likoni crossing in October 2024, Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir said the county would ask the national government to stop vehicles using the ferry and send them via Dongo Kundu.[5] The Kenya Ports Authority is meanwhile investing Sh10 billion in the ferry landing,[1] and the Gate Bridge has been delayed for years by land, compensation and environmental approvals.[11]

Should Mombasa have more open skies? Governor Nassir argues that a faster, more open process for approving international flights to Moi International Airport would bring more tourists and jobs, and says this need not come at the expense of Nairobi or Kenya Airways.[16] In 2024 the national government said it would not yield to pressure to liberalise Kenya's skies for foreign carriers.[17]

Buses or matatus? Mombasa has studied bus rapid transit since 2019, with a first-phase network of 15 km and 232 buses proposed in 2020,[6] and in 2022 county officials spoke of replacing matatus and tuk-tuks with buses to cut emissions.[18] The county has said limited resources slow the project,[15] and this page has found no report of a system in operation. How such a change would affect matatu and tuk-tuk operators is unresolved.

Coverage the plan expects

  • roads and the Northern Corridor
  • standard gauge railway passenger services
  • Likoni ferry and channel crossings
  • airports and air links
  • public transport in Mombasa
  • rural roads and access in Lamu and Tana River

Projects

Mombasa Electric Ferry and Water Transport System
Pwani Express Coastal Rail

A project page joins this theme by naming it as the theme in its infobox. To start one:


Sources

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Likoni ferry crossing channel set for Sh10bn upgrade, Brian Otieno, The Star, 20 September 2025.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Kenya County Fact Sheets, Third Edition, Commission on Revenue Allocation, 2022, pages 7, 95, 120, 130, 165, 220 and 225.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kilifi County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Kilifi, 2023, page 29.
  4. ↑ Dongo Kundu bypass cuts time from SGR station to Mombasa CBD to 30mins, Presidential Strategic Communications Unit, Capital FM, 15 June 2018.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Governor Abdulswamad Nassir Reveals Plan to Ban Vehicles on Likoni Ferry, Rene Otinga, Kenyans.co.ke, 6 October 2024.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Planning Mombasa's public transport system, Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, 27 May 2020.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Cargo, passenger surge lifts SGR revenue to Sh21bn in 2025, Kabui Mwangi, Business Daily, 11 February 2026.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 More airport traffic after partial open sky policy, Willis Oketch, The Standard, 28 January 2026.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority, official website, accessed October 2026.
  10. ↑ Lamu-Garissa Highway Set for Completion by February 2025 to Boost LAPSSET Corridor, Amenya Ochieng, Kenya News Agency, 17 May 2024.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 KeNHA Advances Ksh85 Billion Mombasa Gate Bridge Towards Tender Stage, Nikkie Aisha, Kenyans.co.ke, 7 August 2026.
  12. ↑ Mombasa City County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Mombasa, 2023, page 36.
  13. ↑ Lamu County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Lamu, 2023, page 41.
  14. ↑ Taita Taveta County Integrated Development Plan 2023-2027, County Government of Taita Taveta, 2023, page ii.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Mombasa mulls rapid bus system to decongest city, Mohamed Ahmed, Business Daily, 7 February 2019.
  16. ↑ Unlocking Mombasa begins with smarter aviation policy, Abdulswamad Nassir, The Star, 19 July 2026.
  17. ↑ Murkomen maintains stance against liberalizing airspace for foreign carriers, Macharia Kamau, The Standard, 2 April 2024.
  18. ↑ Joho to Ban Matatus, Eyes BRT Buses, Mumbi Mutuko, Kenyans.co.ke, 29 January 2022.
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