Rwanda Envisions Adopting Aerial Cable Cars as Alternative Mode of Public Transport by 2025

With the population continually increasing, new and innovative ways when it comes to transport have to be devised; ways that vastly improve accessibility to remote parts. Three Rwandan researchers are  proposing the use of aerial cable cars as an alternative form of transport in the city of Kigali. 

An editorial from The New Times touched some parts into their research proposing this groundbreaking plan. The researchers are Leopold Mbereyaho, Aloys Dushimimana and Alexis Nzapfakumunsi, and they are from the University of Rwanda’s College of Science and Technology, and Turkey-based Ondokuz Mayis University, respectively.

Their main basis for advancing this form of transport is the fact that mobility from remote areas have become a burden to government, due to Rwanda’s slopes. “Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda is a highly sloped region and the construction of roads to reach all remote areas within the city is economically and socially unfeasible,” said the researchers.

“As the construction of new roads all around, especially in areas with hilly topography is really quite expensive, both traffic congestion and long queues of people waiting for buses remain daily challenges,” they said.

Areas with the most mobility problems have been identified, and analysis of respective topography carried out. There have been proposed lines –  five metro-cable lines – and “respective elevation and location were collected using Global Positioning System (GPS). Project investment cost estimates were also performed.”

Feasibility is an important factor in assessing developmental projects of this magnitude, and in this case, costs can be reduced as more loaded Line C (which links two car parks, starting from Downtown to Nyabugogo Car Park) would cost Rwf14.5 billion. Sustainability is also another thing – the construction of Line C would only take 10 months to recover.

Transforming the public transport system into a non-motorized one will be a huge score. Topography in Rwanda makes mobility difficult. There is congestion in the capital. It only makes sense that the country be the pioneers of this developmental feat. Cities like Algiers are already using this mode of transport.

Air pollution is an undesirable negative consequence of this, but the researchers argue that the city needs to rely less on motorised transport by having corridors for pedestrians and cyclists.”

The New Times makes an interesting observation. “It [the use of aerial cable cars] also has minimum direct impact to the environment due to the use of electricity instead of fuel and reduced noise pollution, lower cost of implementation and operation than other transportation systems, and almost zero accident rates.”

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