The launch of Abyssinia Luxury Coach’s direct bus service between Nairobi and Addis Ababa is more than just another new travel option. It’s a real-life example of how East Africa can move from talking about integration to making it happen.
For decades, travel between Kenya and Ethiopia meant either paying a lot for flights or breaking the journey into bits, often alighting to change vehicles and spend nights at Isiolo, Marsabit and Moyale towns. Now, for Ksh7,500 (around 8,000 Ethiopian birr) for a one-way ticket, passengers can enjoy a comfortable ride between the two capitals.
Ethiopia is not a member of the EAC, but it’s an important trade partner. This bus route is exactly the kind of project the EAC’s transport master plan talks about—making travel between countries easier, aligning policies, and expanding road links.
Transport is usually the first big step in regional unity. Once people and goods can move freely, it becomes easier to negotiate rules, improve border posts and even market the region for trade and tourism. Today it’s a bus route, tomorrow it could be a railway or, even better, the highways.
Some fear a potential Ethiopia entry into the EAC could make the bloc too politically and economically different. But the same fears existed when South Sudan joined. The truth is, the region’s prosperity depends on connecting, not blocking.
This kind of service benefits almost everyone. Traders—especially small-scale ones—get cheaper, reliable transport to reach new markets. Families and diaspora communities can also visit each other more. Tourists can take cross-country trips with less trouble—imagine going from Kenya’s wildlife parks to Ethiopia’s highlands without challenges along the way.
Still, there are obstacles. Currently, Abyssinia Luxury Coach must stop overnight in Moyale, allowing passengers to wait for immigration to open at 8:00 a.m. Delays like this could be avoided if the EAC and neighbouring countries worked on synchronised border operations.
The EAC should act now—create fast lanes for regional buses, issue harmonised licenses to cross-border operators, and promote such routes as part of a wider East African travel network. Imagine if a similar service connected all the region’s major cities: Nairobi to Kisangani, Bujumbura to Juba, further afield. That’s when “regional integration” stops being an agreement on paper and starts being something people can feel.
Abyssinia has done its part by showing what’s possible when business meets a regional need. Now, it’s the EAC’s turn to keep the wheels of integration turning.
Isaac Mwangi writes on social, political and economic issues in East Africa. E-mail: isaacmmwangi@gmail.com
