“The Authority in undertaking its mandate noted that Little Shuttle and Swvl operate vehicles contrary to the provisions of the PSV Regulations. The vehicles under these hailing app companies have acquired Tours Service License (TSL) but are engaging in commuter service within Nairobi…”

This is the reason NTSA gave about a month ago as to the reason for shutting down the services of Little Shuttle and Swvl in Kenya. At that time, Little Shuttle took the decision to temporarily halt their services while Swvl pushed on and continued working as the licensing issue was being resolved.

While neither of the three parties involved; Little, Swvl and NTSA has spoken out since then, Little Shuttle has announced that it is getting back to the streets of Nairobi albeit with a little change.

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While previously the company solely relied on branded tourist buses, Toyota Coaster, that were more comfortable and considered premium, Little’s come back to the street will see the use of smaller, 7-seater Toyota Noah vans instead, reports indicate.

This comes with its own con, as the vans are much smaller in terms of passenger capacity, three times smaller than the Coaster buses. Which could negatively affect customers as they are likely to miss seats.

Swvl, on the other hand, has been using a variety of vehicles to ferry people across Nairobi, including Coaster buses, larger 60-seater buses and even 14-seater “matatus”.

We are not certain how Little’s decision to overlap NTSA’s ruling will affect this budding industry but seeing that SWVL has been on the roads without any interference, Little Shuttle might get a little break as well.