Travellers throng taxi park as Rwandans bid farewell to 2014

Two German tourists, Julian Wieldwann and his girlfriend Carrie Drummond, with heavy travel bags strapped on their backs stood perplexed in the Nyabugogo Taxi Park that was fully packed and wondered how to get a ticket to Butare town, in Rwanda’s Southern Province. A deal was reached between them and The New Times reporter who helped them through the crowd to find tickets in exchange for a quote. Someone should have warned the young couple that was visiting Rwanda for the first time that travelling on December 31, the last day of the year, is an arduous undertaking. Yesterday, thousands of Rwandans travelled upcountry to end 2014 and welcome 2015 with close relatives. “I didn’t think it would be this crowded,” said Wieldwann shortly after getting two tickets scheduled for 1:30pm. Wieldwann has lived in Nairobi before but Rwanda is Carrie’s maiden trip to Africa and the experience will definitely find space in her memory bank after their 16-day sojourn in the country. Outside the Horizon Express offices in the taxi park, a crowd of about 200 travellers braved the early afternoon scorching sun to wait for tickets, many told The New Times they had been waiting for hours. “Getting a ticket today is like winning a rotary,” said Francoise Dusengere, a traveller. According to several public transport assistants The New Times talked to, the surge in travellers was one sided; most people were leaving Kigali but fewer were coming to the city. “So we have instructed our drivers upcountry not to wait for buses to fill up and rush back to Kigali to take travellers who are waiting,” said Olivier Nkurunziza, a transport official. For ordinary days, it’s normally a bus per hour but yesterday, transport companies needed two buses for every half an hour, that’s four buses in 60 minutes. If it was for the market forces to dictate, many of these companies would have probably raised transport fares in response to overwhelming demand but thanks to the regulatory authority, travel fares remained unchanged. The two German tourists parted with Rwf5,000 for two tickets to Butare, Rwf900 for travellers to Muhanga, Rwf3,000 for those going to Nyamagabe, Rwf1,700 to Nyanza and Rwf1,300 to Ruhango. However, it seemed easier to get tickets for Northern Province towns of Musanze and Rubavu. While there was a huge crowd standing outside the Virunga and Kigali Express offices, many of the travellers had already obtained tickets but were just waiting for the buses that were not yet available. Sylvester Kanan, a transport manager with Kariste and Kigali Safari buses, said most people travelled just before Christmas, reason why they had less pressure yesterday but he expected this to change starting Friday. “Starting Friday, we shall have a surge in travellers as most of the people will be returning to Kigali from their villages,” Kanan said. Again, while transporters expect a surge in traffic this weekend as people return to Kigali, transport fares are not expected to rise given the low fuel prices. The New Times understands that the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Rura) which is charged with regulating public transport tariffs in the country met with transport operators yesterday and resolved to revise downwards, the current tariffs. An announcement of those new fares is expected on the first or second day of 2015 and it will affect travellers in and outside Kigali. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Travellers throng taxi park as Rwandans bid farewell to 2014