Battle for decency on Kigali’s bus rides

It is Friday morning, October 4, at around 7:30a.m. We are on a bus at the Chez Lando stop Remera, Kigali. Its rush hour and everyone wants to arrive at work on time. A baby-carrying mother gets on-board. In a crowded aisle, her feet barely find a free spot. She looks tired and needs a seat. A muscular middle-aged man shouts from the back. “Hey, give her a seat, those yellow seats are reserved for people like her.” Few other passengers back him. Then one young man in a blue seat stands up. But his friend on the next seat pats him on the shoulder and says, “This is not their seat. Theirs are the yellow ones in front. Sit.” After a little hesitation, the young man gives way to the mother. Buses are the most commonly used means of transport in the City of Kigali. Emmanuel Kwizera. He had surrendered his blue chair and many seem to appreciate his decency. The young mother smiles before sitting and silence falls. Buses are the most commonly used means of transport in the City of Kigali and there have been efforts to make them as inclusive as possible, including making it easy for persons on wheelchairs to board. With those sudden brakes and dangling grips, standing on the bus ride is a thing for the strong – definitely not for women with babies, physically disabled people, or the old. But is giving up a seat to a fellow passenger who’s carrying a baby, a pregnant woman, an elderly person, or a disabled person a matter of decency or is it actually a requirement? Bishop Kihangire, executive secretary, Rwanda Federation Transport Cooperative (RFTC), says that, while the Rwandan culture requires younger people to give away their seats to the elderly and other vulnerable people, buses are required to dedicate seats for such people. The public transport policy stipulates that every bus must have eight seats reserved for vulnerable people, he said. Each of their buses can carry 70 people, half of them standing. “It is our duty to facilitate vulnerable passengers,” he says, citing expectant women, mothers with babies, people with disabilities and the elderly,” he tells Saturday Times. He observes that, despite being mandatory for public transport companies to reserve seats for the vulnerable, giving up a seat for the old or mothers with babies is also something rooted in the Rwandan culture of politeness. But not everyone knows about this rule. Not even regular users of public transport. “When a bus is so congested, you just stand because you can’t make it through the aisle, ” says a mother of one-month-old baby. She’s at Gishushu bus stop when this newspaper engages her in a conversation. But she acknowledges that sometimes she sees younger people being urged to offer their seats. Moments before this reporter has just witnessed this at the same stop. Two women, both with babies strapped on their backs, boarded a bus and remained on their feet near the entrance as the bus was so full they could hardly proceed. No one offered their seat. Sam Kalinda, 23, is waiting for a bus at the same stop. “This morning, I was asked to give up a seat by a driver at Kimironko bus park. It does not auger well with many people, including me, but it is the right thing to do, I think it’s polite.” He says it should be a custom before it is a requirement by law. Notably, the yellow-seat zone is not out of bounds for other passengers. You take it whenever its available. But giving it a way seems to be a tall order for many. And the law does not provide for any measures for anyone who chooses to remain put in the event that the ‘rightful’ occupants enters the bus. For now, bus companies – and their drivers – can count on the cooperation and goodwill of passengers. After all, its ‘un-Rwandan’ to grab or hold onto a seat while those who need it more stands, helplessly. editor@newtimesrwanda.com

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Battle for decency on Kigali’s bus rides