Addis and modern mass transportation system
This article is re-posted from my previous blogging space at blogspot.
Transport is a derived demand. There are only a handful of people in a city who are doing it just for the sake of leisure or pleasure. With every trip that is being done in a day, a bigger purpose is behind it such as work, education, shopping and other that is vital for the economical success and improved quality of life f the citizens belonging to that particular geographic location while at the same time impacting the neighboring regions.
Most of the developed nations of this century have installed appropriate and sustainable means of transport systems in place for the public at large despite the eminent fact car ownership is high .These developed nations are wary while dealing with the issue of transport and logistics; aware of the impact of the spillover from the lack and inappropriate planning and service provision. Most cities of these developed nations have the mass transportation system in the form of metro, light rail or a well planned and structured conventional bus system in the smaller cities/towns.
In the last decades, the globe is witnessing a boom of megacities in the developing world characterized by unprecedented population and economic growth. These developments have triggered a higher demand for transport that can only be accommodated with a sustainable mass transport system. But the unprecedented growth that was not foreseen and also lack of proper planning measures, has lead to an increase in marginal cost of designing, building and operating transportation infrastructure at the same time leading to an external cost related the environment, economy and the social impacts.
No one doubts that Addis Ababa with a population of more than 5 million (including metropolitan area) is a sprouting megacity that has reached the maturity of getting a mass transit system in the form of Metro. But the fact that our economy is just on the early booming stage to allow us to own one hinders us even from contemplating it.
The city of Addis Ababa is currently in the planning stage to have its first formal mass rapid transport system in the form of Light rail transit (LRT) and Bus rapid transit (BRT) composition. Where the currently most popular BRT will be performing the task of feeding and complementing the LRT and even compete and provide service with the LRT along some corridors.
Addis Ababa Master Transport Plan
The LRT line will have a North-South and East-West trunk corridor forming a T-shaped junction. According to the feasibility plan set out by Egis rail, the proposed corridors are selected based on ridership, long term network, autonomy, easy impacts and other factors where the ridership number is obviously taken from the Anbessa city bus company ticket sales which do not give a dependable data on the actual number of passengers disregarding the informal mini-bus transport that is serving 25 % of the city population as compared to the 35 % from Anbessa City Bus Service Enterprise according to a report from UITP - International Association of Public Transport.
The BRT will have seven corridors, starting from B1-B7 and the city is already planning to implement the line B2 for the BRT with a priority. This line will be running through Gofa Gabriel - Mexico – Merkato – Wingate. The plan of the city on whether to continue evolving the BRT system into LRT in the future is not yet well known. But it is a very appreciable decision to complement the LRT with the BRT .Even though, there are further studies expected on BRT system, it is undeniable that it is an intermediate solution for cities of the developing country in solving the chronic problem of urban transportation with less cost while providing a higher quality ride for cash strapped cities like Addis.
One of the most difficult situations being faced by most developing countries that has already built a BRT system (Bogota, Colombia and Johannesburg, South Africa) was in the planning stage. The organization and fair settlement of issues regarding the existing informal or pseudo-formal transport modes that is comparable to the mini-buses on the roads of Addis Ababa. The completion of the BRT line is expected to remove other existing competitive informal modes so as to keep the system sustain economically without subsidy and also to achieve its environmental target by reducing emission.
But the question of where to put all those lives that are socio-economically intertwined to the informal transport mode is a headache that must be dealt starting from the beginning of system planning.
This question of formalizing the informal transport and what to do about them after the implementation of the BRT corridor is a subject matter that needs thorough emphasis. It is necessary to keep in mind, these informal transport modes (such as mini-buses and in some areas newly coming three-legged-motorcycles ) are providing a higher number of employment for the lower economic class of the society who accounts for the larger segment of the population of the city and dismantling the system without appropriate plan in place might put a burden on the economy of the city and might affect as the travel behavior and safety of citizens.
Observing the initiation of BRT line B2, it can easily be seen that this line is one with a higher ridership for both the Anbessa bus and the mini-bus taxis. The success or failure this line decides the fate of the future ones and it will have a powerful input in shaping the public acceptance for the BRT system. Any system requires the backing of the public who is convinced about the use and purpose of the system and the BRT project is one that needs the full cooperation and willingness the public that can be met through a fair settlement of issues through mediation and negotiation.
Public/stakeholder involvement should be included as an instrument of planning and implementing of a successful mass transport system. It should involving all stakeholders who will be affected by the new system including mini-bus owners, operators, assistants(ረዳቶች), citizens who will be affected by expropriating, existing public transport users, private transport users, marshals(ተራ አስከባሪዎች), disabled and elder citizens.
Successful and sustainable transport planning is a hard task that requires a multidisciplinary approach. There is a bumpy road ahead and a well articulated planning with the revision of existing informal mass transport systems and involving the stakeholders is the only way to overcome the obstacles.
Posted 13th August 2011 by teddy mekonnen
Labels: Ethiopia Mass transport system BRT line B2 Mini-buses Addis Ababa Bus rapid transit Light rail transit
REDAugust 13, 2011 2:46 PM
You've talked of the environmental target of emission reduction. Does this mean that the buses will be eco-friendly or that there will be a reduction of the number of public transport vehicles on the road.
Secondly...do you have any suggestions as to how to get the affected individuals (the mini-bus guys) to support the idea of a BRT which is basically taking their livelyhood away from them. Is there a chance that BRT and mini-buses can co-exist?
teddy mekonnenAugust 13, 2011 3:12 PM
Hello Red,Thank you for the comment.
To start with your first question,BRT is a mass transit system which will be rubber tired bus system but with a capacity and quality of rail(there are a number of features associated to it),and it is totally different from conventional bus system.Buses to be used for BRT are specifically matched with the system according the requirement during planning.The choice of standards also varies depending on the political decisions and can be a stage of Euro III,Euro IV or above.But, in addition to the eco-friendliness of the buses that you have already mentioned,there is expected a significant number of informal systems(mini-buses) to be removed from the same BRT dedicated corridor contributing for the reduction and the other factor contributing for the reduction is that an idea that argues a better transport system in-terms of cost(time and money)will inevitably bring about modal change by pulling people out of private car and transferring them to bus rapid transit system(though rail systems notably has achieved this more than BRT).
When i come to your second point,different solutions has been achieved in different cities such Bogota,Santiago,Mexico city,Joburg and more.The situation in Joburg resembles more of the situation in Addis due to the fact that Mini-buses are the dominant transport modes.The Joburg BRT system,Rea Vaya, has achieved in scrapping of the mini-buses in exchange to a payment and an option to run the system for the operators affected by the BRT line and drivers and assistants are given jobs in the system as ticket officer, monitors,janitor and so on.But,the whole process was not a piece of came,there were shootings, looting and riots until they finally manage to solve some issues but still there questions not answered.
I shaded some light and I hope to see you around.
EluAugust 13, 2011 3:28 PM
With the critical challenge of addressing the informal mode of transport, I suggest if the article could include some strategic implications for a way out.
warmly appreciate the beginning!
teddy mekonnenAugust 13, 2011 3:43 PM
Hey Elu,Thanks for the comment.
It is not really easy to suggest a solution with out detail analysis,a sociological one.A measure that was taken in Joburg or somewhere else can not fit in other geographic and social local condition.Every solution must be custom made for each local condition depending on the sensitivity of the issue.
If you consider Johannesburg,mini-buses were more of a question of both economically and socially stranded aspects to the society around them and their history and rise is traced back to the apartheid era when the government failed to supply the squatter settlements outside of the secluded area(for only whites).To date almost all mini-buses were owned by the black population making it the black man's job.
So,you can see why i Say a detail analysis is needed.
When,you come to Addis...as far as I can say Mini-bus systems are only economical related to the workforce around them but it needs further study to critically address it and the question is a political question that should be dealt on a policy level by the politicians.
I hope to have more of your constructive ideas around as usual ;)
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