Paper presented at the 33rd Annual Southern African Transport Conference 7-10 July 2014 "Leading Transport into the Future", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.
The City of Kigali, capital of Rwanda, is challenged by a rapid increase in congestion and
air pollution on its roads, especially during peak periods. This is a direct result of high
population growth and an exponential increase in private car ownership. Public transport
services, consisting of bus, minibus, and motor cycle taxis (moto-taxi’s), are poor, largely
informal and unco-ordinated. Roads are generally in a poor condition, many of which are
gravel roads, not suitable for public transport. To solve these problems, the Government of
the Republic of Rwanda through the Ministry of Infrastructure and Rwanda Transport
Development Agency (RTDA) initiated a project for the planning and conceptual design of
a public transport system for Kigali City.
The Paper provides the highlights of the study process and key results, with the focus on
features of the current and proposed public transport system. Unique characteristics of
Kigali and challenges to formalise the public transport system, as well as comparisons with
the South African context are described. The Project covered travel demand assessment,
Stated Preference surveys, development of a hierarchical multi-modal modelling suite
including macro- and micro-simulation, development and evaluation of alternative public
transport options, public transport infrastructure development and operational
management programs for the short, medium and long-term, as well as an institutional and
legal framework.
