Making sense of Kigali’s parking services

An hour in Nairobi or Kampala traffic gives you immense pride to be Rwandan: the roads are smooth, the drivers mostly respectful and for the most part you can count on making it to appointments on time. It is the parking, however, that always confuses me! In some cases, one can only blame poor engineering: case in point being the design of the KCT parking garage. In other cases, however, I am only dumbfounded by the decisions taken by the City of Kigali: for example, why can’t the patrons of KGL restaurant in Kinamba park their cars on the roadside, yet patrons of the likes of Sole Luna or Ogopogo (that are in residential areas) are allowed to park on the road freely and fairly? This is not a new question of course: last year the city went up in arms when the Mayor threatened to close down Papyrus for lack of parking space. I do not know what transpired but we are still parking on the road today. Objectively, until proven otherwise, it is fair to say that parking rights in Kigali are not based on a uniform set of criteria. Frankly speaking, this is strange. First of all, for a city that has little to offer in leisure activities and entertainment, it is surprising that the few who are contributing to this industry are facing such unwarranted resistance from the city council. Let me add that it is not only the business owners suffering, but the tax-paying citizens who are looking for recreation, as well: spending half an hour maneuvering to fit two cars in a space meant for one is an inconvenience, especially the car scratches that come with this! This is unnecessary when there is a road with minimal traffic that cannot be used for reasons unknown to us. Let me add that if this requirement was in place indiscriminately citywide, then I would hold my peace.I wonder, for parking garages within the city, why aren’t space specifications put in place to ensure that all parking construction within the Kigali precincts meets international standards? Or, for example on a road like the Kinamba stretch, why isn’t road parking permissible, say after 6pm? This is common in a number of cities worldwide whereby road parking is allowed within specific times, to match the reduction in volumes of traffic at specific hours of the day or night. The fact is we are in the process of revitalizing Kigali to attract more businesses and tourists: parking is critical in the success of any city’s traffic management, and therefore satisfaction of visitors and residents. Business owners have the best understanding of their customers and their parking needs; other than imposing restrictions on how many patrons can visit an establishment by unreasonably limiting parking space, city authorities work in the interest of everyone by joining hands with business owners to address the issue of parking, such as using customer behavior to assess how much parkers will be willing to pay, peak usage times, etcetera. From a strategic standpoint, we have real questions to ask about our parking requirements, rules and regulations given the number of cars and office buildings that are growing disproportionately to the rate of road expansion (especially in the city centre). It is true that a lot of the dated infrastructure did not account for parking needs but yet it would be narrow-sighted to write off such locations because of road parking. To manage roadside parking, one option could be to consider the elasticity of demand and set parking tariffs by location; or better still, construct standalone multi-storey parking buildings and wider sidewalks like many large cities (taking caution in drawing conclusions from usage patterns and how much drivers are willing to pay for parking lest investments in infrastructure like parking buildings doesn’t yield return on investment). That said, my real dream is a city with 24/7, extensive public transport system that will rid me of fuel, parking and maintenance bills!

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Making sense of Kigali’s parking services