Electric bicycle
The City of Kigali has announced plan to introduce electric bicycles to bring a new mobility experience in the capital city transport.
The project is in collaboration with Gura Ride, a Rwanda-based green e-mobility public bike share (PBS) company.
This venture could be a possible solution to current challenges passengers face in the city waiting in long queues for buses which remain limited in the city center in comparison to the current city population and demand for proper transport system.
The venture also builds on the already existing Gura Ride bike sharing ecosystem which has 18 bike stations and riders use a phone application to request for a bike ride at a cost of Rwf200 unit price(Per hour).
Julian Rugaza, an official in charge of transport in Kigali revealed that the initial plan is to purchase 50 electric bicycles in fiscal year 2022/2023 which will be availed at the existing Gura Ride stations located across the city suburbs.
Jerry Ndayishimiye, the Head of Marketing and Public Relations Officer at Safi Run Logistics company that runs Gura Ride bikes services said that the purchase order to the first set of bikes has been made.
With these bikes, one can ride manually on sloppy terrain and switch to electric mode on hilly areas which are commonly found on the city landscape.
“With this kind of terrain, the electric bicycles will improve the transport services. The price will be affordable compared to the moto taxis,” Ndayishimiye said.
Statistics from the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA) indicate that Rwanda reached emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent to 2635.41 Giga gramme of Carbon dioxide (GgCO2e) in 2018.
This project is expected to contribute to the country’s plan to cut down carbon emissions and pollution which is largely generated by the transport sector that has 40% of emissions due to use of fuel engines.
In 2020, Rwanda was the first African country to announce an ambitious climate action agenda (Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that features a 38% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to business as usual by 2030, equivalent to an estimated mitigation of up to 4.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e).
Rwanda’s total emissions are currently forecast to more than double over the 2015-2030 period.
