Towards a Model to Solve Problems of Congestion in Commercial Banks in Kenya

Abstract

Since Kenya's Independence, a sizable proportion of the Kenyan population has had an increased demand for banking services. Unfortunately the banking facilities have not grown at the same rate as the demand. As a result of this imbalance in growth, many customers spend a lot of time in banks waiting for services. The problem of waiting for services in Commercial Banks in Kenya is the concern of this study. It is felt, by the author, that time can be looked at as a scarce resource that should be economised. The study tries to devise means, through mathematical tools provided by Operations Research (OR), by which the time a customer spenda in banks for services can be minimised. Minimising the time a customer wafts in a bank would result in increasing the servlce rate (u); the output of the system. The study starts with the survey of the commercial banks in the City of Nairobi for the purpose of knowing the queu position in the banks. Then the study concentrate on one typical bank branch for a deep study of the arrival rate (^) arrival pattern and service time of customers at the branch. The study suggests possible approaches aimed at solving the problem of queueing in Commercial Banks in Kenya.