Kigali-25^th July, 2014-After the procurement of other 35 new big buses by city public transport operators, the challenge of public transport in the City of Kigali has been harmonized. The issue of waiting for long on the bus stops has been resolved as expected.  

The 35 more buses (60 seater) for the Kigali Bus Services (KBS) and Royal Express respectively reached the country as part of the deal the companies signed with Rura and the City of Kigali (CoK) to cater for city public transport.

The Minister of State in charge of transport Dr.Alexis Nzahabwanimana emphasizes that the government is opting to have more big buses because they carry many passengers per route approximately three times a small coaster

The City of Kigali has three hundred thousand every day who would like to use public means, up to now Kigali city has three big public transport operators ready to meet passenger needs, namely Kigali Bus Services (KBS) with 226 buses Royal Express with 120 and RFTC with 310 Minibuses and 232 Coasters

The companies signed a Five year contract in August 2013, three companies including KBS, Royal Express and the Rwanda Federation of Transport Cooperatives (RFTC) to improve public transport, by sorting out issues of delays at bus stages, and abuse of the passengers by the bus crew among others.  

The contract required bringing in more buses and reducing waiting time for passengers to a maximum of five minutes during peak hours and fifteen minutes at off-peak hours.

 “We plan to keep the momentum and even expect people with private cars to opt for public transport,” Minister of State said”.  

“Our target is to build confidence where passengers know that when they reach a bus stop and find the bus is full, the maximum time they would wait for another bus is five minutes,” noted Nille Muneza, the Royal Express boss, whose buses connect Nyabugogo and the city centre to Kicukiro.

The buses are assigned to specific routes, making public transport more efficient, so far passengers on a stage can find a bus within a maximum of seven minutes.

The buses will concentrate on the rush hours to avoid delays and have data on regular increase of passengers so as to serve them better; this will be achieved once passengers pay their fare using electronic cards.