Africa and the emerging mobility landscape

Cities are the greatest expression of human evolution but as is they do not work as they should or rather they don’t work for everyone. Every major city in Africa is facing challenges with providing a safe, reliable and affordable mobility system. Mobility, however, has significantly evolved over time a process mostly influenced by the ever transitioning industrial revolutions. An emerging industrial revolution being driven by the “internet of things” coded Industry 4.0 will see technologies converging, a shift that will transform urban mobility as we know it today. Seamless applications that integrate different forms of urban commuting are slowly gaining traction in most cities across the world. Mobile based technologies like UBER and LYFT are reconfiguring urban transit, largely because of the convenience they offer to commuters in most of the world’s congested cities. Soon we will witness automated unmanned urban transit systems as we build towards smart connected cities. Despite these developments, providing robust urban mobility systems will be one of the greatest challenges to face cities all over the world with some systems, unfortunately, approaching breakdown.

Africa is a continent experiencing one of the largest growth rates in terms of urbanisation. From Johannesburg, Nairobi, Accra, Lagos to Dar es Salaam, more and more people are flooding to the various metropolis across the continent. Consequently, each city has found itself with a unique challenge of providing an efficient and acceptable mobility system. On the downside there is very little to no deliberate policy around public transport systems in most cities across the continent, the negative perceptions towards public transport are evidence. From the bright yellow “danfos” in Lagos to the “blue donkeys” in Addis Ababa, an absent structured formal mobility system has given rise to informal modes of transport which have grown to become the primary means of commuting. In many cities, urban commuters do not appreciate the local public transport systems available to them in so much that owning a car is a status symbol that expresses a sense of freedom from the inconvenience which characterises public transport. Commuting in Africa’s congested cities means long travel and waiting times. To add to that passengers have to squeeze each other on uncomfortable make-shift seats which operators usually modify to increase capacity to maximise profits. More passengers more money. Worse off operators control the prices, a market which is honestly driven by emotions than anything. If there is an increase in demand (peak hours), or if its month end (pay-day) or when it rains for instance prices double or even triple. People will choose to rather be delayed in traffic in the comfort of their own vehicles than to contend with the disorder and inconvenience that can come with public transport. A car-centric development approach comes with a cost, Europe has shown us that you can never build enough roads for all traffic if every citizen is to own and use a vehicle, as a result, they are turning back on their car culture. Africa needs to think for itself and not repeat the same mistakes. In the words of The Mayor of Bogota Gustavo Petro Urrego, “A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation. ” Bogota in Colombia has one of the largest and fastest Bus Rapid Transit System named Transmilenio which commutes over 2 million passengers a day.

The absence of government intervention in providing a policy to guide and regulate public transport provision means they have less influence in the management and planning of their cities mobility plans. This unfortunate situation comes from a lack of capacity in terms of personal resources as well as institutional arrangements at the various levels of authority in addressing problems facing urban or commuter transport users. A capable authority must coordinate transport planning, infrastructure development, and regulation of services. This is not the case as many African emerging cities have an underdeveloped infrastructure and very few resources to transform this. In addressing mobility issues on the continent, the context of each city varies which means that each city will respond to its growing mobility needs differently. It is evident there are challenges at several levels, but there is room however to create an informed mobility strategy that draws from a pool of lessons. To develop a political vision and urban mobility objectives that are consistent with the cities socio-economic goals requires a change in mobility culture. At the policy level, priority should be given to designing, adapting and reviewing urban policies that integrate all travel modes, including using bicycles as a means of public and private transport. Most legal and institutional frameworks that regulate urban transport and mobility are not progressive enough to accommodate and give equal attention to various modes of urban mobility.

The aim is to establish a sustainable mobility core that can satisfy short term demand at a reasonable cost without replicating mistakes from developed countries. With access to emerging transport infrastructure and technologies, African cities have the opportunity to become the test-bed and breeding ground for tomorrow’s urban mobility systems. New mass transit systems can be introduced to replace or work alongside existing services. Lagos, Cape Town and Johannesburg have been successful in implementing BRT services that work together with existing public transport services. The biggest lesson is that it is possible to accommodate a range of transport types to account for all means of urban mobility. This enables a controlled transition from the “informal” paratransit systems to more sophisticated mass transit systems that fall within the mobility regulations. Over 50% of the world’s population resides in towns and cities, consequently, transport has emerged as the highest single energy-consuming human activity in these areas. Hence the hot topic is the reduction of urban transport demand and energy consumption for cities.For Africa to stimulate and maintain its growth momentum, national and urban economies will require higher levels of economic diversification, with rapid resource depletion the world has shifted towards sustainability. These transformations demand careful and immediate reconsideration of all infrastructure and technology options, particularly energy technologies.

The current state of urban mobility in many African cities requires sustainable solutions that are built around the needs of our people. African cities need to rethink their urban mobility systems by putting in place systems and structures that enhance mobility taking into account both formal and informal public transport, this will require far-thinking city planners who will aspire to ideals that enhance the mobility system of their cities. The present and future policy decisions made today will lock African cities into investment patterns that will determine production and consumption levels for decades to come. Future competitiveness, productivity, consumption and sustainability are intimately intertwined with these technology and infrastructure decisions. This is particularly the case where large-scale infrastructures for commodity transport and population mobility are concerned. Generally, across the continent, there is a need to formulate comprehensive, integrated and sustainable national transport policies centred on good governance and transparency .