I had the opportunity in 2021 to travel to Kenya for work. While being in Nairobi for the first time, I couldn’t help myself noticing the amount of colored buses that were in the busy streets. I asked Elias, my Uber driver, why were there so many colorful buses? He replied simply with a smile: “Because beauty sells more seats”. Some other buses went even further by including screens on the back of every seat, Wi-Fi, power sockets, and even flat screens on the outside of the vehicles. Our last day in Kenya, Elias took us to a giant neighborhood in Nairobi where thousands of buses are taken apart, fixed and later painted. We had the opportunity to talk with James, a bus artist who has been painting buses for more than 45 years. Here is his story.
