Public transport should be safe and convenient

Editor,This is with reference to Aline Akintore’s article, “Let’s hang up our car-keys and take the bus” (The New Times, December 9).

Monday, December 09, 2013

Editor,This is with reference to Aline Akintore’s article, "Let’s hang up our car-keys and take the bus” (The New Times, December 9).I wish to thank Ms Akintore; her column is always very informative and touches on burning issues. The good thing is that the author proposes solutions to those issues and I hope stakeholders take note of that.I have been to several workshops on Kigali Master Plan and the transport master plan in particular. There is a clear emphasis on public transport with BRTs (Bus Rapid Transit) and LRTs (Light Rail Transit) in the plan but I don’t know how intelligent they are planned to be.We all would like to use public transport if it were safe and convenient, to be precise, as the Mayor of Bogota suggests but till now, in Kigali and most African cities, private transport is a solution though at the same time a time bomb. I can’t wait for the next column! Have a fruitful week.Eudes Kayumba, Kigali