Ahead of the anticipated mass travels from Kigali to upcountry districts for the upcoming New Year celebrations, the City of Kigali in collaboration with Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) has announced temporary changes in the booking and boarding of upcountry bound buses to decongest Nyabugogo Bus Terminal during the weekend of December 30 and 31.

The temporary arrangement has seen three locations in the capital selected where buses will be available on Saturday and Sunday to transport travellers going to the countryside to celebrate the New Year.

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The changes were potentially triggered by the chaos that was witnessed in Nyabugogo park ahead of the just-concluded Christmas Day celebrations, where thousands found themselves stranded in the park making upcountry travel very difficult.

This is not the first time such stop-gap measure have been introduced to address the congestion in the main taxi parks during certain periods including when students are going back to school at the opening of the school term and returning home when schools close.

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While we must commend the flexibility of the City leadership and its stakeholders like RURA to swiftly come up with such measures to fix the commotion we witnessed during Christmas, it is important to think long term because the facilities we have, especially the Nyabugogo terminal are clearly overwhelmed.

Besides being the main terminal used by upcountry-bound travellers both from Kigali or transiting through the capital, Nyabugogo is also the main hub for buses that ply international routes to neighbouring countries.

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As a result, besides the congestion during these special occasions, the park and its environs is on a daily basis clogged by human and vehicular traffic including private cars, which calls for a permanent solution to decongest it, including the possible relocation the international terminal to another wider facility.

Other measures may include permanently moving some upcountry dispatch points to peripheral terminals like Nyanza in Kicukiro District and Kabuga in Gasabo District and imploring passengers and public transporters alike not to necessarily transit through Kigali by making use of the several roads that have been built connecting different regions.

Happy New Year!