Let’s hang up our car-keys and take the bus

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation” – Gustavo Petro, Mayor of BogotaThis is the second time I use this quote as part of my weekly column. This time around I will include another, “Mind the Gap”; anyone who has been to the United Kingdom recognises this from London subway stations. The phrase is perfect for the economic situation in Rwanda whereby improved social status has afforded many a home-owned vehicle and at the same time urban migration has increased Kigali dwellers x-fold, leading to increased pressure on the mass transit system and road infrastructure.We shouldn’t envision a future with more car owners but rather, fewer personal vehicles and more public transport on the already-clogged narrow roads that pose high risk to the legion of Kigali pedestrians and choke our environment. Interestingly studies from the World Resources Institute show that well-designed mass transport systems reduce the number of road accidents significantly in urban areas.I have spent the past few weeks in South Korea and my time here has only served to drive my imagination wild with respect to a world-class, efficient, city-wide public transportation system in Rwanda. It is impossible to not be impressed by the public transportation in this country! And why not pick a leaf? The timing is perfect: the transit system is undergoing an overhaul; we are rebooting our university system; and beginning a 3-year nationwide rollout of 4G LTE. The opportunities to create a success story on the continent in the public transit domain are boundless.Where did Korea get it right?Infrastructure: The public transit system is operated by various organisations that operate under an integrated structure; this includes a common fare system and the reorganisation of routes into a comprehensive system of main and feeder roads, as well as dedicated bus lanes to encourage use of public transit. One critical aspect of this to Rwanda is the reach of public transit networks that are still quite limited to main roads and thus justifying the purchase of personal vehicles.Intelligent transportation systems:Beyond the existence of well-planned infrastructure, the mass transit system in South Korea is one of the few comprehensively intelligent systems in the world. Like most other services, Korea has endeavoured to truly typify IT in mass transit as it enables citizens to access and utilise information anytime and anywhere.The intelligent system includes applications such as automatic vehicle location that enables transit vehicles to report current location, making it possible to draw a real-time view of the status of all public transit vehicles. This gives commuters visibility into schedules of buses and trains providing real-time ‘next bus’ updates, bus locations and GPS-enabled option lists for various destinations (the updates can be found on phones or on message screens at bus terminals). In addition, the unified electronic payment system (for buses, cabs and trains) allows commuters to pay with the same electronic cards or their cell phones (using NFC technology).Intelligent transportation systems are the future – it is in our best interest to build our infrastructure with smart components in mind. Intelligent transportation translates into increased private sector investment, job creation (through creation of new value-added products and services), as well as opportunities for universities to engage engineering and urban studies students in the re-design of our public transit system. One might remind me that Kigali made a futile attempt to use smart cards in buses. I am aware of this; but there are fundamental reasons why it worked in Korea, Singapore and Japan. These countries not only demonstrated commitment to a well-articulated vision, they also made significant investments in deploying smart and efficient public transit systems through public-private partnerships. Next week I will explore action items for our public and private sector that might enable Rwanda to be a continental forerunner in intelligent public transit systems because, frankly speaking, we have no excuses left.