National Bus-Electrification Roadmap, Kigali, Rwanda

Year: 2024–2025  |  Client: EcoFleet / GIZ  |  Country: Rwanda (Kigali)

Cities Forum supports the Government of Rwanda in preparing a national programme for bus electrification and fleet transition, working with EcoFleet and GIZ, with Kigali at the centre of the effort. Rwanda has earned a reputation as one of Africa's most forward-looking countries on clean development, and electrifying its urban buses is a natural next step; the assignment helps convert that ambition into a structured, deliverable roadmap for transitioning the bus fleet to electric power.

Our approach

The programme addresses the essential building blocks of a successful bus-electrification transition. Cities Forum's support encompasses the planning of charging infrastructure, without which electric buses cannot operate reliably; the design of business models that make electrification financially viable for operators and the state, spanning questions of asset ownership, financing and risk allocation; and the framing of private-sector participation, recognising that private capital and capability will be central to scaling the transition beyond what public budgets alone can achieve. Together these elements move the conversation from the aspiration to run electric buses to a concrete plan for how they will be powered, paid for and operated.

What we delivered

Designing a bus-electrification programme in an African city context requires careful attention to local realities, the existing fleet and operating arrangements, the power system, financing conditions and institutional capacity. By grounding the roadmap in these realities and by engaging the private sector early through workable business models, Cities Forum helps ensure that Rwanda's programme is not only ambitious but achievable, and that it can attract the partners and investment needed to deliver electric buses at scale.

Impact

The engagement supports Rwanda in charting a credible national path to electric buses, reinforcing its leadership on clean mobility in the region and improving urban transport in Kigali. For Cities Forum, it adds to a growing African portfolio and demonstrates the firm's ability to design fleet-electrification programmes that join infrastructure, finance and private participation into a coherent, deliverable whole, helping another government turn the promise of clean public transport into a practical reality.