A photo made rounds on social media towards the end of last week, showing people who had pitched camp in one of the bus terminals in the country late at night, to be sure to catch the early morning bus. This came against the backdrop of allegations from major taxi parks where some unscrupulous individuals have taken advantage of the prevailing crisis in the public transport sector to make an already bad situation worse. These fraudsters buy in bulk bus tickets from transport companies, then create a shortage and turn around and sell the tickets to disparate passengers at a higher cost. Amidst all these challenges, government has announced changes in the public transportation in the country, where tenders for private investors wishing to venture into the sector will now be handled by the City of Kigali and other decentralised entities for those out of the capital. ALSO READ: New law shifts responsibility for public transport tenders in Rwanda This function was until the new changes vested with Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), which also doubles as the sector regulator, and this made it problematic, contributing to the mess that is in the public transport sector, mainly in the City of Kigali. RURA will only retain the regulatory function, including licensing of new operators. ALSO READ: RURA clarifies on ride-sharing concerns as public transport challenges persist The hope in the new changes is that it will help cut the red tape for prospective investors in the public transport sector who, according to the Minister of State at the Ministry of Infrastructure, will be processed through a one-stop centre to be created, especially those in the capital. It is everyone’s hope that such measures will soon bring to an end the woes that have bedeviled the public transport for years, and which seem to get worse by the day. Particularly, the recent spike in public transport shortage has many concerned because we only have a few days to the opening of the new school year, meaning that it will be even worse with thousands more commuters. While it is important to streamline public transport by ensuring certain companies are contracted to ply dedicated routes, the current system seems not to be working and it is probably time to do things differently, starting with the decision to take away contracting powers from RURA. With the reduction in red tape, it is hoped that more investors will be attracted to the sector which will in turn put an end to the distress in public transport.
