The 20 new buses unveiled on Friday, October 13, by Jali Transport, one of the major public transport companies in Kigali, will reduce the city’s bus shortage by six per cent, officials have said.

Working together with private investors, the government is putting efforts into quickly handling the problems characterizing public transport in the city, one of which is scarcity of buses.

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As part of this, Jali transport procured 20 new buses from China, and these are set to be deployed to some of the busiest routes in the city including Nyabugogo-Kimironko and CBD (Downtown)-Kimironko.

Speaking to the media, Merard Mpabwanamaguru, Kigali’s Vice-Mayor in charge of Urbanisation and Infrastructure, said the city’s public transport system had a deficit of 21,000 seats, but the newly introduced 20 buses will provide 1,400 seats.

Currently, the city has a total of slightly close to 15,000 public transport seats.

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Mpabwanamaguru noted that the increase in the fleet will hekp make public transport quicker, as well as provide cheaper options.

He added that the new buses’ deployment to busy routes will not only be beneficial to people who use such routes, but also those who use the less frequented ones. This is because transport companies have often been required to move buses from less busy routes to busier ones during peak hours.

Dodo Twahirwa, the the chief executive of Jali Transport, told the media that the buses cost about Rwf 3 billion in total.

Before the end of the year, according to the administration of the City of Kigali, another 100 buses are expected to be shipped in.