Businesses involved in public transport should consider acquiring buses that are easily used by persons with disabilities when purchasing new buses, the Ministry of Infrastructure has recommended.

Fabrice Barisanga, the official in charge of transport in the Ministry, made the call at the time the City of Kigali is saying there is need for 271 new public buses in the city. In total, Kigali needs about 500 buses.

"Previously bought buses might not be adapted to persons with disabilities, the new ones should be inclusive,” Barisanga said.

According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, a public transport policy and strategy was designed to ensure universal public transport services for all citizens irrespective of age, sex, caste, creed, and ability to perform in the society, and it should also ensure access to all modes of transport for infirm, disabled and elderly people.

This will be done by promoting the development of a transport system that is inclusive and accessible to all countrywide.

"Before Covid-19 we urged investors in public transport to avail buses adapted to persons with disabilities. It was a good start but such public buses are still few,” he said.

"There is still a long journey. As public bus companies buy and increase new buses on the routes, they should make sure they consider those accessible to persons with disabilities so that it is easy for them to board and get off.”

In August 2019, the Rwanda Federation of Transport Cooperatives (RFTC) – now changed to Jali Transport Ltd – purchased 11 buses from China that are designed to enable persons with disabilities to board and get off without being assisted.

The company invested Rwf1 billion to pilot the project, the ultimate goal being to allocate more resources and serve the whole country.

Barisanga said that despite having started introducing such easily accessible buses for persons with disabilities, a few years ago, there is "still a big gap” as the project has not been scaled up across the country.

Innocent Twahirwa, the Managing Director of Jali Transport Ltd, which operates in two zones of the four public transport zones with 202 buses in the city, told Doing Business that they are going to buy 70 more buses and will include those accessible by persons with disabilities.

"We are negotiating with the manufacturers in China to know how many will come with facilities that make them accessible to persons with disabilities,” he said.

The new buses could arrive in January 2023, he said.

Activists call for tax exemption

Eugene Twagirimana, a Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) Programme Coordinator at the National Union of Disability Organizations in Rwanda (NUDOR), suggested tax reduction on buses and cars that are accessible to persons with disabilities.

"There are minibuses that we recently introduced in Rwanda under the support of sponsors but they had to pay high taxes. The cost of one minibus was Euros 40,000 but each had to pay Rwf22 million taxes which are high,” he said.

Twagirimana said the minibuses for transporting children and persons with disabilities arrived in Rwanda in September 2021 and were released from Customs warehouses in June as the tax exemption process got difficult.

"We had to negotiate with different institutions such as the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning as well as the Ministry of Infrastructure because Rwanda Revenue Authority had not understood the issue. We commend the government, although it took time. The buses were used during CHOGM to transport persons with disabilities from different countries who were attending the meeting,” he said.

According to Twagirimana, there is need for buses used by persons with disabilities in every district.

"Investors in public transport should consider such facilities when they order buses,” he said.