When the City of Kigali and the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) awarded five-year deals to three firms to provide public transport in the city about two years ago, they promised first-class services. The bus firms that won the tender – Kigali Bus Service, Rwanda Federation of Transport Co-operative (RFTC), and Royal Express – reportedly had enough capacity in terms of capital, equipment and personnel, to provide professional and timely public transport services.

The move to hire the firms was in line with a Cabinet decision taken a year earlier that aimed at streamlining the sector. While signing the contracts, the city mayor said the transport firms had agreed to bring in more buses to "ensure that no passenger spends over five minutes” at any bus stop waiting. The firms were to set up inspection teams to make sure operations run smoothly, among others.

However, two years down the road, the challenges that the city authority and RURA had hoped to solve are still rampant as travelers still brave long queues waiting for buses during peak hours. The professional services that were promised are non-existent. In fact one can hardly find a bus between 10pm and 11pm.

The new Kigali public transport master plan, unveiled in 2013, has not eased the situation either. Did the city authority err in awarding the contracts to a handful of companies, which in effect created a quasi monopoly? Why have the challenges that have for long characterised public transport in Kigali remained? Where does this leave the city’s ‘Smart Kigali’ project?

RURA and City of Kigali should step up supervision and regulatory tools or even go back to the drawing board, to make sure city dwellers and travellers get fast and reliable public transport services.