Paper for Workshop on Achieving the Millennium Development Goals for Africa: The Role of Transport, Cornell University, May 2007

 

Sustainable Transport Technologies for Developing Environments: Towards Appropriate Investment Strategies

 

John D Nelson[1]

 

 

1.         Introduction

 

The unification of the world economy has set new challenges for sustainable development. The previously dormant economies of the developing world are surging ahead at a rapid pace due to global competition and a shift of the industrial and manufacturing basis from the industrialised economies to developing environments on account of their vast human resource capabilities. A further contributory factor is the rapid advancement of communication and transport infrastructure for movement of goods and services around the globe. Whilst the trends towards economic unification have brought about significant improvements in economic well being they have also led to adverse changes in the socio-economic, environmental and physical environments of human settlements in the developing world at macro and micro levels. This paper provides a summary of aspects of a recent research project which has explored the role of transport technologies in promoting less unsustainable development. The overall objective is to contribute to the debate on the appropriate role of technology in the context of transport (with a particular focus on public transport) and the Millennium Development Goals for Africa. Suggestions for further research are also offered.

 

 

2.         Background

 

Global demographic scenarios are indicative of the rapid urbanisation of the developing world. It is anticipated that developing countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa will attain urbanisation levels of 80%, 60% and 55% respectively by 2020. The net effects of such urbanisation levels will result in the emergence of mega cities with populations of over 20 million and the creation of nearly 300 cities of 1 million people in the next two decades.

 

Whilst some developing countries are re-focussing themselves to address the major task of creating the infrastructure to meet the rising expectations of the population there are sufficient grounds to believe that many developing nations may not be able to meet the anticipated goals of eliminating poverty, overcoming obsolescence in infrastructure, and reducing carbon emissions necessary for less unsustainable development. Whist trends are indicative of the rising awareness to the issues of sustainability in the context of the developing and developed world, the synergies in research and technology transfer between and amongst developing countries seem to be weak and informal. This warrants the case for accelerating the pace of identifying strategies, technologies, capacity building frameworks, institutional arrangements and especially the need for international co-operation for a fuller understanding of the complexities of sustainable development[2].

 

This paper highlights selected outcomes of research centred on gathering and synergising experience from the developing and developed environments for identification of instruments and good practice for sustainable transport development in developing environments[3].

 

Research on identification of sustainable technologies for developing environments followed a three phased approach of: (i) establishing links with like-minded research institutions / individuals for a fuller and comprehensive understanding of the concepts of sustainable transport systems; (ii) scoping a series of workshop domains[4]; and (iii) identifying and devising ways and means of achieving transport sustainability through building capacity in research, training and postgraduate teaching.

 

The role of transport systems in facilitating the required socio-economic changes in developing environments is important but their use, intensity and adaptability needs to be appreciated in the trends currently being experienced in their respective environments. Based upon the current trends of research in the subject, transport sustainability can be assessed against seven major attributes. These could be the summarised as:

 

  • demographic trends,
  • land-use transport integration and inter-relationships,
  • transport systems and their energy inputs,
  • public transport infrastructure,
  • safety in transport,
  • the role of technology, and
  • human resources.

 

The scoping of each workshop was largely undertaken to review the trends in the sustainability attributes identified.

 

 

3.         Sustainable Transport Technologies: the African context

 

The African workshop of the sustainable transport technologies project noted that unlike the encouraging trends of economic resurgence in Asia with its implications for transport and the success stories of, for example, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Latin America, the trends in Africa are a cause of immense concern. The emerging trends in Africa are distinctively different than other developing regions in respect of the following: the urban population is rapidly rising but urban centres are not working as engines of economic growth, poverty is rising, the economic momentum required for sustainability is not being achieved, and land-use transport systems are weakening.

 

The growing urbanisation levels and the limitations of transport infrastructure to provide the much needed mobility to the incoming migrants means that the cities are unsustainable from all attributes of sustainability – for example by 2015 it is expected that Lagos will have a population of more than 10 million and 70 cities will be more than one million. A holistic treatment appears to be the only recourse warranting legislative reforms to enhance the role of public transport, revitalise the cities’ social and economic infrastructure and create and enhance employment. Efforts need to be targeted towards gender equity in transport, safety and management of cities using the skills imparted though the capacity build up programme in the transport sector.

 

Public transport in SSA is characterised by an over-supply of old and non-roadworthy (mini) buses, inefficient use of vehicles and space, high involvement of minibuses in fatal accidents and high congestion and pollution costs. The principal causes of this situation may be attributed to unregulated access to transport activity, the lack of regulatory framework, a monopoly market and captive demand. Poor land-use / transport integration is a further critical factor. Public transport service planning is thus a vital to a poverty focussed agenda[5].

 

The workshop also addressed the issues related to the MENA region of Africa and the changing trends in reducing carbon emissions through the use of compressed natural gas in Egypt. Some 57,000 light duty vehicles in Egypt are converted to natural gas and more than 100 buses in Greater Cairo are gas powered by CNG dedicated natural engines financed by USAID. The changing scenario of South Africa and its efforts towards organising the carbonless World Cup in 2010 were also recognised as an important development towards sustainability in the African continent.

 

Whilst a wide range of initiatives and programmes are in place to tackle the problems of urbanisation, sustainable development and poverty, sustainability requires effective and enforceable systems of tools, techniques, legislation, technologies and human resource capabilities.

 

 

Strengthening the public transport capability

 

One aspect of transport provision that appears largely absent from the discussion of transport and the MDGs for Africa[6] is the contribution of the public transport sector. The International Union of Public Transport (UITP) in their “Johannesburg Declaration” (2004) which relates to the organisation and financing of public transport in Africa note that: “an adequate transport system is just as essential to the social and economic development of African cities and countries as health, education and access to drinking water”. The same document advances the combination of good public transport with high capacity and good quality infrastructure as a powerful weapon in the fight against poverty, whilst attributing the crisis in the public transport sector (as illustrated in the previous section) as mainly due to the absence or inadequacy of institutional and statutory frameworks, and the lack of appropriate financing mechanisms, especially for non-commercial social functions.

 

The infrastructure / technology aspect of this problem may be illustrated with reference to public transport vehicles. Lack of investment in the public transport sector has resulted in bus builders withdrawing from the market thus initiating an increase in the price of new buses coupled with poor after-sales service and crucially the deployment of inappropriate vehicles. An added factor is that it is increasingly more difficult to utilise second-hand vehicles from the European market since these vehicles have particular requirements in terms of emissions, information technology and comfort (e.g. low-floor operation). The African bus of the future project is an initiative of UITP and the African Union of Public Transport (UATP)[7]. The project aims to validate the most suitable technology choices for urban buses in Africa and to produce common bus specifications which should facilitate the work of bus builders and offer the possibility of selling the same type of bus in more than one African country.

 

There is a clear imperative for a research agenda to strengthen the public transport capability throughout African nations. The current Sustainable Surface Transport Call of the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme had identified the importance of international co-operation with developing countries on passenger public transport[8]. Activities to be pursued will include the identification and development of technological solutions for public passenger vehicles adapted to specific local needs (e.g. local economic constraints, rapid population growth and increasing urban pressure, climatic extreme conditions) of countries (drawn from the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions). The work programme calls for a survey of areas, technologies and existing technical solutions for passengers' public transport that better respond to the identified regions needs and the elaboration of a research road-map to support those regions. There is also an identified need to improve the dissemination of research results by means of adequate communication and awareness campaigns, networks or studies.

 

One possible elaboration of such a project could include the preparation of a list of technologies suitable for surface public transport, and also a number of key non-technology items (operations management, regulatory frameworks) – the importance of these non-technology items in responding to opportunities provided by advances in technology is highlighted by the authors of the AU-AfDB report on Transport and the Millennium Development Goals for Africa. Such a list could include Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), planning tools, fuels, vehicles, traffic management, maintenance, BRT, passenger terminals, interchanges etc. One such example is fares and ticketing where modern management technologies can be deployed to operate as efficiently as possible (with the added benefit of also using public funds in an effective way). For each core application in the list of technologies identified above it would be necessary to consider what sort of country/environment would be an interesting target and to reduce this to a summary matrix of target themes and potential countries.

 

Experience has shown that it is vital to understand what African countries need and can afford, and above all to avoid trying to impose expensive, over-specified western solutions. Local capability must be respected; some areas will want high functionality. This may require suppliers to examine how they can make affordable products for African countries (who aren't all at the same affordability level).

 

The following are offered as potential areas of investigation:

 

a) New models of organisation and management of minibuses and paratransit[9], to provide better quality and safe regular transport services

 

b) Appropriate ITS solutions for low-cost and modest-technology environments, with focus on delivering operational and management efficiency

 

c) Optimising the deployment of ITS, through integration with non-technology measures and training.

 

 

5. Conclusions

 

A global review of sustainability issues in developing environments has led to an improved understanding of the issues confronting the transport sector and the importance of appropriate technology choices. Clearly the issues of the developing world can no longer be “clubbed” together but need to be understood from the levels of economic growth and their attempts to resolve the global problem of poverty. Transport can play an important role in this direction. The broad indicators which have been identified for targeting and measuring transport’s contribution to the MDGs should respond positively to the implementation of appropriate user-led technology and operational / regulatory (i.e. non-technology) measures. Progress towards sustainability requires effective and enforceable systems of tools, techniques, legislation, technologies and human resource capabilities to put sustainable transport systems in place. An appropriate starting point in this context would be to focus on the contribution of the public transport sector which has much to offer in the delivery of enhanced quality of life and the pursuit of sustainable mobility.

 

 

Acknowledgements

 

The author acknowledges funding received from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grant EP/D027543/1) for a project which was conducted jointly with Prof Anil Sharma, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India. Additionally, Brendan Finn of ETTS Ltd has contributed useful ideas on areas for future research for the public transport sector.

 

 


[1] Professor of Public Transport Systems, School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Newcastle University, UK; e-mail: j.d.nelson@ncl.ac.uk

[2] Gakenheimer (1999) in his discussion of “sparks of mobility leadership” from the Developing Countries provides a useful background to this debate. See: Gakenheimer, R (1999) Urban Mobility in the Developing World. Transportation Research A, 33, 671-689.

[3] These ideas are explored in detailed in: Sharma, A K and Nelson, J D (2008) Sustainable Transport Technologies for Developing Environments. In preparation.

[4] Workshops focussed on each of the three developing regions of Asia, Latin America and Africa. A fourth workshop brought together issues of capacity building.

[5] A recent text on public transport is provided by IIes, R (2005) Public Transport in Developing Countries. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

[6] The core document referred to is: AU-AfDB-ECA-WB-EU (2005), "Transport and the Millennium Development Goals in Africa" http://www4.worldbank.org/afr/ssatp/Resources/PapersNotes/transport_mdg.pdf .

[7] A relevant initiative in this context is the UITP African bus of the future project. See: Dufays, T (2006) Opportunities for bus suppliers in Africa? Public Transport International, 06/2006, 46-47.

[8] Call: FP7- Sustainable Surface Transport (SST)-2007-RTD-1.

[9] The role of paratransit and other forms of Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) service offer a particularly fruitful area of enquiry. An early paper which established evidence of good practice in developing countries is: Silcock, D T (1981) Urban Paratransit in the Developing World. Transport Reviews, 1(2), 151-168. A recent European perspective on the opportunities for DRT is: Ambrosino, G, Nelson, J D aand Romanazzo, M (Eds) (2004) Demand Responsive Transport Services: Towards the Flexible Mobility Agency. Rome: ENEA.