Ten months after Rwanda partially closed its borders with Uganda, the business community has been forced to devise ways of survival.

For instance, Volcano Express, one of the transport companies that used to have up to 10 buses plying the Kigali-Kampala route daily, has now opted for new routes to remain in business.

The company has launched Kigali-Cyangugu route and also ply Butare and Nyanza routes as well.

The bus firm, like many others, operated at least four daily buses serving the Kigali-Kampala route before Rwanda closed the border with Uganda over fears that its citizens could be arrested and tortured as tensions between two countries mounted.

“We were seriously hit when the border closed. We now have three buses travelling to Uganda from the 10 that used to go daily.

We opened the Cyangugu route, it is somehow helping, but the revenue is nowhere close to how  it used to be,” said Yusuf Augustine, an employee of Volcanoes.

Other buses have resorted to operating the Tanzanian route, but those that couldn’t easily adjust to get alternative local routes have parked their vehicles.

Besides suspending a big chunk of their fleet, other bus companies have laid off their staff in large numbers after sinking deep into losses.

Although Volcano Express has dispatched some of its buses to the new local routes and rehired some the workers it had laid off, other firms, among them Trinity Express, Simba Coach, Mash Poa, Jaguar, suspended some routes.

Jaguar, which had more than 20 staff on its Kigali-Kampala route with over seven buses operating daily, is now left with only four workers whose salaries have been cut by a third.

Trinity Express, a local company with 13 buses that regularly plied the Kigali-Kampala route, now has only three buses on the route.

Similarly, cargo and logistics transporters are also licking their wounds since the border was closed.

Many used to transport a wide range of goods from Uganda to Rwanda, which include general merchandise, construction materials and fish.

Just like transporters, other businesses that depended on supplies from Uganda, like Hima Cement laid off their workers before finally closing shop.

After operating in Rwanda for more 20 years, having 30 per cent market share, no Hima Cement product is currently found in the market.