Impact of unpaved road condition on rural transport services

Abstract

The majority of roads in developing countries especially in sub-Saharan Africa remain unpaved. To optimise their social impact, rural roads need to be complemented with convenient and affordable transport services that allow residents to reach markets and basic services. Motorcycle taxis or boda bodas, have risen to be the most dominant transport service in the rural areas of Uganda. Careful management of the vehicle operating costs (VOCs) is therefore important to sustain this service in the rural areas. This study estimates the changes in VOCs for motorcycle taxis with changes in the unpaved road condition. A 1·8% rise in operating costs is found when a road condition deteriorates from very good to good; and a 7·7% increase when road condition deteriorates from good to fair or poor.

Rural Transportation Infrastructure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Review of Impacts, Implications, and Interventions

“…Authors suggest that successful and sustainable maintenance plans in rural areas of developing countries often involve engaging community members in partnership with public works groups [9,228,244,260]. In this way, local communities provide critical insight into addressing localized maintenance issues [12,261].…”

“…Despite successful cases and examples of community capacity, thoughtful management of maintenance responsibilities should still be a priority of local government, to prevent decay of infrastructure that forces repair from local people who are often unable to contribute much in terms of resources or technical knowledge [4,243,244]. Expansion and scale of community-based road maintenance schemes will require future research, advancing the techniques to encompass further communities and increasingly comprehensive maintenance procedures [260].…”

“…By focusing efforts and available resources on the preservation of existing works, instead of creating new ones, governments, development agencies, and rural communities may be more likely to cultivate and maintain the myriad of associated benefits of rural access [217]. However, future research should look to examine the institutional issues that display insufficient maintenance as a symptom [247] and examine improved funding mechanisms and continued and scaled community engagement [244,260]. Table 17 provides a summary of key points related to maintenance while Table 18 summaries future research recommendations.…”

Compensation of CO2e Emissions from Pedelecs Partially Replacing Motorized Vehicles in Uganda

“…Bicycles provide a cheap and safe alternative to walking in rural Uganda and are therefore a familiar means of transport (MWT, 2012). However, along with the expansion of mobile phone services in Uganda, boda-bodas have expanded in the remote areas of the country, as they allow quick and on-demand transport services (Mbabazi, 2019). Boda-bodas sometimes are the only available form of transport during the rainy season but cost more than twice the price of scarce public minibuses, which makes them the most expensive form of transport available in rural areas (Mbabazi, 2019).…”