It is often said that you cannot expect different results when you are doing something in the same way all the time. This adage fits the description of the road transport industry in Rwanda and East Africa in general.

The transport sector in the region is generally lopsided. On one hand, you have an archaic railway system that can barely break even. The line was built ages ago primarily to move cargo from particular areas to the coast. Rwanda and Burundi do not have railway services presently.

The water transport only makes news when a ferry sinks and scores of lives are lost. With few water vessels, overcrowding becomes inevitable and hence the high cost in terms of lives and property lost. The region’s aviation industry is the most expensive mode of transport because high taxes imposed by the governments.

The above situation has compelled many to resort to road transport; for both passenger services and ferrying of cargo. Heavy vehicles transporting people and goods from one corner to the other is a common sight on all major highways in the region. However, the services of some transporters leave a lot to be desired. They treat their clients the way they want because many do not have any other option.

Whatever their reasons of behaving that way; they forget that it is important to offer top notch services to stay in business and prosper. There are different things that they can learn from the air transport industry that would improve their own, but little has been done.

Whenever I go to Nyabugogo it shocks me how the different bus companies operate. These public transporters approach the operations the same as they did 10 years ago; they wake up go to their work station to repeat the same pattern of the day before. They forget that a lot changes with time and it is wise to adjust accordingly.

I will start with a business opportunity. How come we do not have travel agents specialising in bus transport? I see people calling their agents to book plane tickets, and even email a copy they can print and show at the airport get a boarding pass for their scheduled flight. I think a similar should be adapted by bus companies, especially for regional routes Kigali-Nairobi; Kigali-Bujumbura or Kigali-Kampala.

Airlines have a system where it is cheaper for you to buy a return ticket compared to one who wants a one-way ticket. When you go to Nyabugogo, the buses are only selling one way tickets and yet over 95 per cent of their passengers are most likely to be returning to Kigali after about two days or three weeks. So why don’t bus companies devise means for travellers to pay for both trips at once?

Any business person understands the value of having more cash flow, and selling return tickets can be one way of making this a reality.

Some buses are not strict on seat allocation, and you find passengers sitting anywhere they want. This situation often creates confusion and angers some passengers whose seats (as indicated on tickets) would have been occupied by others, who then refused to vacate them.

It is such small things that can make a customer to vow never to travel with a particular bus company again.

It is important for bus firms and truckers to have a tracking system, especially in this digital era. For example, if someone is using a truck service to move cargo from Mombasa, it would help if they tracked the movement of cargo on their mobile phones at least. The buses can do the same too not just for their own records, but even for the passengers.

With many people now owning smartphones and always ‘plugged in’, it has become a necessity for long distance passenger service companies to have power points where travellers can recharge their phones while on the road. Often, people arrive at their destination after a long journey, and get stranded as cannot call their colleagues to come them up because their phone batteries are dead.

Last but not least, I think it is sad that passengers still have to find their way to Nyabugogo to book for a bus, return home and then later come back to board. It is 2014 and passengers should be encouraged to make bookings using mobile money services and only coming in time to board the bus for their journey. 

A lot can be done to improve the transport sector if the business owners were open to change. There is no logic in doing things the same way today as they were done in 1994.

Email: ssenyonga@gmail.com

Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.com

Twitter: @ssojo81