Kinshasa to get 490 more buses this year, with work on an airport rapid-transit line from January
Transport minister Jean-Pierre Bemba told the Senate the "Esprit de vie" buses are already in Kinshasa and Matadi, and that work on 18 elevated bridges along Boulevard Lumumba should start in January.
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Kinshasa — Kinshasa, a city of chronic traffic jams, has two pieces of relief on the way, Congo's transport minister told the Senate on Friday.
Jean-Pierre Bemba, deputy prime minister for transport, communication routes and opening up the regions, said 490 buses from the government's "Esprit de vie" programme will go into service before the end of the year. The buses are already in Kinshasa and Matadi, he said, according to Actualité.cd.
Why the buses matter
Most Kinshasa residents depend on private transport operators. Passengers often complain about rising fares and "demi-terrain", the practice of ending a trip before the advertised stop, and when the authorities try to enforce the rules, driver associations sometimes call strikes that leave the city stranded. Transco, the state bus company created in 2013, has too few buses and limited routes to fill the gap on its own.
A rapid-transit line to the airport
Bemba also said work on the Transit rapide aéroport-Kinshasa (TRAK) should begin in January 2027. The project is meant to ease the clogged route between N'Djili International Airport and the city centre, mostly served by Boulevard Lumumba. It includes:
- 18 elevated bridges
- two underpasses
- 40 pedestrian crossings
Bemba, who first presented the project to the Council of Ministers, where it was approved on 3 October 2025, called it a major transformation. It is still at the detailed-study and financial-structuring stage, and talks are under way with private partners to fund the works.
Sources: Actualité.cd, reporting by Samyr Lukombo, and Actualité.cd, 17 October 2026.
