NEW ROUTE TO DAR ES SALAAM TO BE LAUNCHED BY RWANDAN BUS COMPANY
(Posted 12th January 2015)
A Kigali based bus company, Trinity Express, is in the final stages of launching new routes after becoming one of the largest operators between Kigali and Kampala in recent years.
For the early part of this year does the company now eye Dar es Salaam in Tanzania before later on adding Bujumbura in neighbouring Burundi and Goma in Eastern Congo, according to company executive Twahirwa.
Travel by air is for many ordinary people beyond their means and in the absence of rail travel, Rwanda remains disconnected from the East African rail network until the recently launched standard gauge railways track reaches the country all the way from Mombasa via Nairobi, the Ugandan border and Kampala.
The route by road runs along what is known as the Central Transport Corridor and will be crossing into Tanzania at the just opened one stop common border point at Rusumo, where a few months ago a new bridge was opened too, both generously financed by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency JICA.
Long distance bus travel is a common means of transport for many locals across the East African Community because it is affordable, but has of late been rivalled by low cost airlines where the cheapest tickets on domestic routes in Tanzania sell for 20 US Dollars PLUS TAXES while on their regional routes the lowest fare is available at 50 US Dollars PLUS TAXES which amount to almost as much courtesy of extortionate taxes and dues levied by national aviation regulators and airports. In Kenya are low fares available too when flying with that country’s LCC but again only when booked early enough and when shown as available on the system, rivalling bus fares for instance between Nairobi and Mombasa. Train travel between Nairobi and Mombasa, once a double daily event and popular for the relatively safe and cheap mode of travel, have reduced to just three a week and no longer play a major role in long distance transport.
In a December 11th directive have the Heads of State of Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya directed that all obstacles in granting traffic rights for airlines registered in the three countries be lifted and route rights be granted even for domestic routes, not just regional routes. This however has yet to yield results to make flying more affordable and pull larger numbers of passengers from road to air transport, mainly because of further obstructions by in particular the Kenyan regulators. Watch this space for regular updates on regional transport and aviation topics.
