It is now one year since the new reforms in public transport in the City of Kigali were introduced. These reforms saw three companies operating in the four zones in the City. These reforms came as a solution to the many problems that had rendered the public transport in Kigali dysfunctional. These problems included; a disorganised transport sector, unprofessionalism and poor service delivery, as well as unhealthy competition which was instead killing investments in the transport sector. The reforms were aimed at redesigning public transport routes in order to reduce distances walked by passengers to the nearest bus stop within the City of Kigali and connecting to the public transport network some of the city suburbs and neighbourhoods that were previously not linked. The new system was also aimed at putting in place a clear and favourable regulatory framework that encourages investment in public transport as a lucrative sector in the City of Kigali, while also encouraging the use of modern, smart, bigger and much more comfortable buses appropriate for public transport along congested roads of the City. In a space of only one year we have seen the public transport fleet double. Buses have nearly doubled, from 44 in August 2013 to 86 today. Coaster buses have increased from 180 in 2013 to over 300 today. Presently, 90 per cent of the public transport fleet in Kigali are modern, ‘smart’ and bigger buses. For the first time in the history of public transport in Kigali, the operators have invested over Frw5 billion, an indication of the trust financial institutions have in the transport sector as opposed to the past where banks were reluctant to lend to public transport operators. The routes connected to the public transport network in Kigali have also significantly increased, from 27 to over 45 today. Presently, more city suburbs and neighbourhoods are serviced by public transport. Residents on the outskirts of the city for the first time have access to public transport. Service delivery in the transport sector has generally improved with bus companies putting in place personnel at every stage to deal with the needs of the clients. There are no more cases of passengers being ‘dumped’ on the way and in case of any problem passengers and the authorities know who to call. However, our target is for the majority city residents to choose to leave their personal cars at home and use public transport. Although the numbers of those using public transport have significantly increased in the last one year, a big number of city residents still use their personal cars. The City of Kigali is presently putting in place infrastructure to support public transport. We are constructing over 24 kilometers of paved roads to connect some suburbs of the city while reducing congestion on some of the trunk roads. Another 105 kilometers of new stone cobbled roads will make it possible for the public transport network to get deep in the neighbourhoods. As indicated in the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy II (EDPRSII), ultimately the problem of bus delays caused by traffic jam will be solved by the establishment of over 90km of Dedicated Bus Lanes (DBL) and at least 17km of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor by 2018. Presently, the City of Kigali has completed the demarcation of both the DBL and BRT routes with expropriation planned to commence this financial year. There is still a need for more buses to sufficiently serve some of the busy routes, especially during peak hours, but given that the operators are planning to import more buses, we believe that this problem will be dealt with before the end of the year. There is also a need to change the mindset among the operators from operating only-a full-bus to operating on time intervals at each bus stop. The current practice has led to the delay of some buses on stages waiting to fill up hence not meeting the requirement of having a bus at each bus stop every 5 minutes. However, with training and reprimanding the culprits we expect this issue to be solved. One year after the public transport reforms were introduced, clearly the City of Kigali is on the right track in addressing the challenges of urban transportation and a journey has begun to position public transport services to serve the needs of an ever growing city. We profoundly appreciate and commend the commitment and efforts of all stakeholders for the achievements recorded and look forward to achieving the desirable improvement. The writer is the Mayor of the City of Kigali.
