About 50 electric buses are expected to be introduced in the City of Kigali by May, in line with the ongoing expansion of dedicated bus lanes aimed at improving public transport.

ALSO READ: Kigali rolls out extended bus lanes on four routes

Aubin Rukera, the Chief Executive Officer of Ecofleet Solutions, the state-owned company managing public transport in the city, told The New Times that 20 electric buses will be deployed on Friday, April 24, at the launch of the extended dedicated bus lanes.

"More buses are expected to come in shortly after that, bringing the total to about 50 by May,” Rukera said.

The 20 buses will operate on four routes where the dedicated bus lanes are being introduced. These include Downtown-Payage-Kanogo-Rwandex-Sonatube-Giporoso (Ku Cya Mitsingi), Sonatube-Kicukiro Centre-Nyanza Bus Park, Downtown-former 1930 Prison-Nyabugogo Bus Park, and Downtown-Gloria Hotel-City Plaza.

This comes as the government is implementing various measures to encourage the use of public transport.

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Currently, buses depart every 10 minutes during peak hours, but with the dedicated lanes, departures are expected to depart every five minutes, Rukera explained.

"With the dedicated lanes, buses will need to move more frequently, which requires adding more buses,” he said.

Rukera noted that the additional buses will help improve efficiency as the expansion of the dedicated lanes is expected to reduce traffic congestion and increase travel speed.

ALSO READ: Kigali rolls out extended bus lanes on four routes

"The buses to be introduced on Friday will also have personnel to support passengers and oversee compliance with schedules,” he said.

In the long term, Rukera said there are plans to build a state-owned bus fleet to reduce reliance on buses rented from private investors. He said there's a target to deploy about 300 buses, most of them fully electric, by June next year. The buses are expected in phases. About 190 buses are expected by the end of the year.

"We are working towards having more electric buses under the system,” he said.

Recent reforms in Kigali’s public transport system have led to an increase of about 30 per cent in usage compared to the period before December last year, he noted.

"Rising fuel prices are also expected to push more commuters towards public transport as well, which requires us to be prepared, with enough buses,” Rukera said.