Bus rapid transit in Africa

In African cities, bus rapid transit is a relatively new phenomenon. The first system was opened in 2008 in Lagos, Nigeria and since then, many more BRT systems have been undertaken and are in different stages of development. 2016 saw a record three new BRTs on the continent. Ousmane Thiam, Honorary President of the International Association of Public Transport and President of CETUD, the urban transport authority in Dakar (Senegal), reckons there will be a significant development of BRT in Africa over the next years.

Currently, BRT systems are in operation in the following 17 African cities:

BRT bus in Dar es Salaam

1. Lagos (Nigeria) – Lagos BRT, opened in March 2008
2. Johannesburg (South Africa) – Rea Vaya, opened in August 2009
3. Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay (South Africa) – Libhongolethu IPTS BRT, system was implemented for the 2010 World Cup
4. Cape Town (South Africa) – MyCiTi, opened in May 2011
5. Pretoria (South Africa) – Areyeng, opened in December 2014
6. George (South Africa) – Go George BRT system, opened in August 2015
7. Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) – UDART, opened in May 2016
8. Accra (Ghana) – BRT Accra,opened in November 2016
9. Marrakech (Morocco) – BRT Marrakesh, opened in 29 September 2017
10. Johannesburg, City of Ekurhuleni (South Africa) – Harambee BRT, system started in October 2017
11. Polokwane (South Africa) – Leetola Polokwane BRT, system project was conceived in 2007 and began operations in March 2021
12. Rustenburg (South Africa) – Yarona, opened in September 2022
13. Dakar (Senegal) – BRT Dakar, will be opened by the end of 2023
14. Casablanca (Morocco) – Casablanca Busway, BRT opened in 1st March 2024
15. Agadir (Morocco) – will be opened in 2024
16. Cairo (Egypt) - Will be opened in 2024
17. Durban (South Africa) – GO Durban BRT, system was announced in 2013 is still (under construction 2024)

Often BRT is advocated as a cheaper way to build rapid mass transit for Africa's larger cities compared to rail. Implementing these systems is also sometimes conceptualized as a way to initiate wider reform of local bus systems often consisting of privately operated and flexibly run minibuses, sometimes called paratransit or "informal" transport. This also means that these projects confront the problem of how to integrate with these systems and address concerns of replacement or displacement from actors that own and operate minibus systems leading to clashes and raising significant political challenges in implementation.