Columnist maneuvers Kigali bus system
KIGALI, Rwanda ? In my neighborhood, dirt roads suddenly turn into concrete.Taxi motorbikes whizz dangerously between honking cars with their passengers nonchalantly texting on the back.Fancy cars mix with women balancing baskets of fruit on their heads.Yesterday, I saw a man standing casually at the bus stop with at least a six foot saw, and no one but me seemed to be alarmed by it.It all makes for an exciting, exhilarating, adventurous and mildly terrifying commute.The bus system in Kigali, Rwanda, is nothing like the bus systems in the United States.Kigali buses are packed to the brim, with an additional seat folding out into the aisle when the bus is in motion.Bus parks contain a dozen or so buses weaving in and out, coming dangerously close to hitting each other.The scene is chaotic even early in the morning, with many people bustling about, trying to get to their correct bus.The buses are not numbered or labeled in any way, so in their replacement, a worker just hangs off of side, shouting its destination to passersby.My first day taking the bus, all I could do was say the name of my school’s sector, “Kacyiru?
