Needs-based
t
ransport
research
ACET
Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). Approximately 18 researchers collaborate on 12 sub-projects under the auspices of the Centre. VREF has provided ACET with SEK 25 million in financing for the period 2008 through 2012.
Host organisation:
Links:
The Centre’s website
The African Centre of Excellence in Public and Non-Motorised Transport (ACET) aims to produce better
analytical methods and models of transportation systems,
for infrastructural development in a region where
pedestrians and paratransit are important.
“We are a rather unusual centre, in that we are working together with two additional African universities. One of our primary aims is to contribute knowledge, methods and analytical models about the specific conditions that exist in our region with respect to transportation systems and needs. Our target audience includes decision makers as well as operators in the transportation sector,” says Roger Behrens, Associate Professor at the Centre for Transport Studies at the University of Cape Town and Director of ACET. In the field of international transportation research, scientific studies from South Africa and the rest of Africa are few. The Centre aims to create a knowledge base for Africa. “We want to catch up and contribute to international research while at the same time developing scientific knowledge that is specifically adapted for different stakeholders in our region,” he says.
Research at the Centre will focus on two themes: contributing to improving and integrating so-called paratransit systems that integrate private taxis, minibuses, etc. into public transportation systems; and studying the needs of the non-motorized segment of the transportation sector (pedestrians, bicyclists, vehicles drawn by animals, etc.). The researchers will also work to produce better tools for decision making.
Informal transportation
Paratransit systems consist of minibuses that provide intermittent, unscheduled services and are partially or not at all regulated. They belong to the informal service sector. Such systems are widespread in developing countries. “We intend to explore how paratransit systems can be integrated into the formal transportation system. To succeed we must first understand what the driving forces are that motivate operators in such systems. We also need to show them how they could be included in the formal transportation system and the benefits that would arise from this,” says Behrens.
In a programme that was carried out in Cape Town – the Taxi Re-capitalization Programme – the government offered vehicle owners 50 000 Rand to scrap their minibus-taxis. The goal of the programme was to improve passenger safety and comfort by replacing unroadworthy vehicles, and to reduce the number of operators within an overtraded sector characterized by occasionally violent competition. Of the original ~120 000 paratransit vehicles, only 13 000 have, several years later, been scrapped. “There are additional examples of projects with similar goals that have all failed, primarily because the underlying operating conditions and realities were not sufficiently understood. That is why we must begin by carefully analyzing the motives of operators, and how they might respond to plans to rationalize and improve public transport systems,” says Roger Behrens.
The importance of walking
The other theme – non-motorized transportation – represents a significant part of total transportation in many parts of the world. Accounting for all trip purposes throughout the day, upwards of 40 percent of the populations of Cape Town, Dar es Salaam and Nairobi move by foot. And walking is the dominant mode of transportation in the countryside. “Above all, walking is the most common mode of transportation for the very poor, who cannot afford to pay for public transportation. Pedestrians are almost always overlooked in international traffic research. We will give them the place they deserve,” says Behrens.
The transportation problem in urban environments is usually defined as how to avoid congestion and how to build roads that can absorb an ever growing quantity of traffic. Pedestrians have therefore been overlooked. “We need to understand pedestrians and their needs in the same way that we analyze other modes of transportation. And we need to plan infrastructure systems that cater to non-motorized transportation just like we plan for roads that cater to cars,” says Roger Behrens.
End-users for our results
Users of the Centre’s results can be found among private entrepreneurs within the paratransit sector and among government agencies, decision makers and their advisors. Developing good strategies for decision making is an important part of developing public transportation systems. “That’s why we want to develop effective methods that can be used by decision makers at different levels. They must be based upon relevant analyses of the existing transportation system and take the transportation needs of several different actors into account. We have seen too many poor public investment decisions in the public transportation sector.”
One of the Centre’s goals, therefore, is to assist those responsible for all types of transportation infrastructure, by providing them with better information to base their decisions on. The Centre is creating a network where researchers, city planners, politicians and other decision makers meet regularly. The network is intended to improve understanding about transportation needs, what kind of knowledge is lacking among practitioners, and where researchers should focus their efforts. “We hope to be able to create tools that help decision makers to make relevant decisions,” says Roger Behrens.
