Paratransit In African Cities

Public transport systems in contemporary Sub-Saharan African cities are heavily reliant upon paratransit services. These services are defined as informal transportation which operates between the public and individual private spheres. In Africa paratransit is characterized by low quality of vehicles and chaotic management but it also provides cheap, accessible and flexible transport solutions for the urban poor. It is typically poorly regulated and operates as a set of informal businesses. A common result of weak public sector regulation and a fare strategy in which owners claim a fixed daily revenue target and drivers who keep the variable balance as income, is destructive competition and poor quality of service. There is an incontrovertible case for improving the quality, reliability and coverage of public transport systems, and some city governments have attempted to do so by initiating reform projects that envisage the phased replacement of paratransit operations with formalised bus rapid transit systems. In this book the authors argue that there are, however, path dependencies and constraints that limit the possible extent of public transport system reform. Paratransit operations also have some inherent advantages with respect to demand responsiveness and service innovation. Attempts to eradicate paratransit may be neither pragmatic nor strategic. Two future scenarios are likely: hybrid systems comprised of both paratransit and formally planned modes; and systems improved by upgrades and strengthened regulation of existing paratransit services. The business strategies and aspirations of incumbent paratransit operators in three case cities – Cape Town, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi – are discussed, as well as their attitudes towards emerging public transport reform projects. International experiences of hybrid system regulation and paratransit business development are reviewed in order to explore policy options. The authors contend that policies recognising paratransit operators, and seeking contextually appropriate complementarity with formalised planned services, will produce greater benefits than policies ignoring their continued existence.

This collection of field-based case-studies examines the role and contributions of Africa’s informal public transport (also referred to as paratransit) to the production of city forms and urban economies, as well as the voices, experiences, and survival tactics of its poor and stigmatised workforce. With attention to the question of what a micro-level analysis of the organisation and politics of informal public transport in urbanizing Africa might tell us about the precarious existence and agency of its informal workforce, it explores the political and socio-economic conditions of contemporary African cities, spanning from Nairobi and Dar es Salaam to Harare, Cape Town, Kinshasa and Lagos. Mapping, analysing and comparing the everyday experiences of informal transport operators across the continent, this book sheds light on the multiple challenges facing Africa’s informal transport workers today, as they negotiate the contours of city life, expand their horizons of possibility and make the most of their time. It thus offers directions for more effective policy response to urban public transport, which is changing fundamentally and rapidly in light of neoliberal urban planning strategies and ‘World Class’ city ambitions.

This book critically explores the relationship between mobility patterns, transport provision and urban development in East African cities. Bringing together contributions on the futures of mobility in urban East Africa, the chapters examine transport provision, mobility patterns, location-specific modes of transport and transformative factors for transport and mobility in the rapidly urbanising region. The book outlines different mobility needs to be addressed in transport planning to serve and shape the respective cities and examines the decision-making process in transport planning and the level of accountability to the public. The contributors show the dialectic between innovation in transport/mobility and urban development under rapid urbanisation and discusses how to practically integrate mobility and transport provision into urban development. This book will be of interest to scholars in urban planning, transport planning, transport geography, social sciences and African studies.

Public Transportation Quality of Service: Factors, Models, and Applications is the first book to help researchers better understand the contributing factors that can improve public transportation perception among users. The book compiles in one place metrics currently dispersed in journal articles, government publications and book chapters. It critically analyzes currently available modeling methodologies such as the Ordered Logit/Probit model and Models of Structural Equations, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages. The book addresses models of desired quality, including the views of users and non-users, discussing the gap between desired and perceived quality. The book also examines data mining approaches such as decision trees and neural networks, showing how to involve the public in the decision-making process to create policies that encourage public transport demand. Measuring passenger’s views on public transportation is of critical concern to promote wider transit use in cities around the world. Includes insights from both theoretical and practical points of view for both researchers and practitioners Features case studies in each chapter that apply models discussed Helps readers develop and design their own studies for measuring quality of service Shows how to include perceived quality in contracts Provides access to the survey formulas and data to better enable implementation of models

What challenges do pedestrians and cyclists face in cities of the developing world? What opportunities do these cities have to provide for walking and cycling? Based on in-depth research conducted in Cape Town (South Africa), Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and Nairobi (Kenya), this book explores these questions by presenting work on walking and cycling travel behaviour, the status of road safety in these cities, as well as an analysis of the infrastructure for walking and cycling, and the workings of the institutions responsible for planning for these modes. The book also presents case studies relating to particular opportunities and challenges, such as the development and evaluation of ‘walking bus’ interventions, and the opportunities micro-simulation of pedestrian interventions offers within a data-scarce environment. Non-motorized Transport Integration into Urban Transport Planning in Africa demonstrates that transport and urban planning remains situated in a logic of automobile-dependent transport planning and global city development. This logic of practice does not pay adequate attention to walking and cycling. It argues that a significant shift in both policy as well as political commitment is needed so as to prioritize walking and cycling as strategies for sustainable transport policy in urban Africa. This book will be a key text for practitioners and policy makers working in planning, transport policy and urban development in Africa, as well as students and scholars of African studies, development studies, urban geography, transport studies and sustainable development.

Drive the streets of Nairobi and you are sure to see many matatus colorful minibuses that transport huge numbers of people around the city. Once ramshackle affairs held together with duct tape and wire, matatus today are name-brand vehicles maxed out with aftermarket detailing. They can be stately black or come in extravagant colors, sporting names, slogans, or entire tableaus, with airbrushed portraits of everyone from Kanye West to Barack Obama, of athletes, movie stars, or the most famous face of all: Jesus Christ. In this richly interdisciplinary book, Kenda Mutongi explores the history of the matatu from the 1960s to the present. As Mutongi shows, matatus offer a window onto many socioeconomic and political facets of late-twentieth-century Africa. In their diversity of idiosyncratic designs they express multiple and divergent aspects of Kenyan life including rapid urbanization, organized crime, entrepreneurship, social insecurity, the transition to democracy, chaos and congestion, popular culture, and many others at once embodying both Kenya's staggering social problems and the bright promises of its future. Offering a shining model of interdisciplinary analysis, Mutongi mixes historical, ethnographic, literary, linguistic, and economic approaches to tell the story of the matatu as a powerful expression of the entrepreneurial aesthetics of the postcolonial world.