Who could benefit from a bus rapid transit system in cities from developing countries? A case study from Kampala, Uganda

Vermeiren, Karolien; Verachtert, Els; Kasaija, Peter; Loopmans, Maarten; Poesen, Jean; Rompaey, Anton Van

doi:10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2015.07.006

Cited by 43 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Kampala is by far the largest and most important city of Uganda regarding economy and population. The greater Kampala metropolitan area, comprising the city and the surrounding districts, has an estimated population of 3.5 million () with an annual growth rate around 5 per cent (UN Habitat ) . The central business district (CBD) of Kampala is the prime economic and commercial centre of this area, inducing large daily traffic flows.…”

Section: Transport and Mobility Characteristics Of Kampalamentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily Mobility, Livelihoods and Transport Policies in Kampala, Uganda: A Hägerstrandian Analysis

Janusz

Kesteloot

Vermeiren

et al. 2019

Tijd voor Econ & Soc Geog

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In order to construct a suitable transport policy, based on the needs of the inhabitants and city users, planners have to be aware of the needs of urban residents. In this research, Hägerstrand's space-time geography is used to understand constraints that individuals from contrasting livelihoods experience regarding their daily mobility in Kampala. To carry out economic activities, both poor and non-poor face the need to travel, but moving in the city is hampered by congestion and poor walking infrastructure. While non-poor have the financial and economical flexibility to adjust the time and transport mode of their movements, the poor are constrained by affordability. Space-time prisms of the movements show that paradoxically the further the distance from the centre, the less movement is undertaken by the non-poor and more movement by the poor. The policy responses, driven by foreign investments, mainly from China, show that policy circulation plans prevail over tailor-made solutions.

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Section: Transport and Mobility Characteristics Of Kampalamentioning

confidence: 99%

Daily Mobility, Livelihoods and Transport Policies in Kampala, Uganda: A Hägerstrandian Analysis

Janusz

Kesteloot

Vermeiren

et al. 2019

Tijd voor Econ & Soc Geog

Self Cite

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“…This literature is also largely based on empirical cross-sectional analysis of differences in accessibility levels between different social groups, but studies have paid less attention to ex-post and ex-ante evaluations of transport investments to investigate how much of those inequalities are determined by government policy. This is particularly true for cities in the Global South, which have received far less attention in the transportation equity literature with a few notable exceptions (Hernandez, 2017;Maia et al, 2016;Oviedo & Dávila, 2016;Vermeiren et al, 2015). Finally, the studies that evaluate the distributional and accessibility impacts of transport projects are often based on simple or standard descriptive statistical analysis and, as a rule, do not question whether their results are robust to ad-hoc methodological choices regarding the temporal and spatial scale of accessibility analysis.…”

Section: Nexus Of Justice and Transportationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While many researchers and transport planners in developed countries are concerned with improving accessibility (Boisjoly & El-Geneidy, 2017;Papa et al, 2015) and equity (Karner & Niemeier, 2013;Manaugh et al, 2015), these issues have received much less attention in the Global South (Keeling, 2008;Vasconcellos, 2001). The literature on justice in transport policy is still predominately focused on developed countries in North America and Europe, with a few notable exceptions (Bocarejo & Oviedo, 2012;Delmelle & Casas, 2012;Maia et al, 2016;Vermeiren et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributive Justice and Transportation Equity: Inequality in accessibility in Rio de Janeiro

Pereira¹

2018

Preprint

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Public transport policies play a key role in shaping the social and spatial structure of cities. These policies influence how easily people can access opportunities, including health and educational services and job positions. The accessibility impacts of transport policies thus have important implications for social inequalities and for the promotion of just and inclusive cities. However, in the transportation literature, there is still little theoretically informed understanding of justice and what it means in the context of transport policies. Moreover, few studies have moved beyond descriptive analyses of accessibility inequalities to evaluate how much those inequalities result from transport policies themselves. This is particularly true in cities from the global South, where accessibility and equity have so far remained marginal concerns in the policy realm.This thesis builds on theories of distributive justice and examines how they can guide the evaluation of transport policies and plans. It points to pathways for rigorous assessment of the accessibility impacts of transport policies and it contributes to current discussions on transportation equity. A justice framework is developed to assess the distributional effects of transport policies. This framework is then applied to evaluate recent transport policies developed in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in preparation to host sports mega-events, such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, which included substantial expansion of the rail and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) infrastructure. This research presents ex-post analyses of the policies implemented between 2014 and 2017 and ex-ante analysis of an as yet unfinished BRT project. It evaluates how the planned transport legacy of those mega-events impacted accessibility to sports venues, healthcare facilities, public schools and job opportunities for different income groups. The results show that there were overall accessibility benefits from the expansion in transport infrastructure between 2014 and 2017, but these were generally offset by the reduction in bus service levels that followed an economic crisis that hit the city after the Olympics. Quasi-counterfactual analysis suggests that, even if the city had not been hit by the economic crisis, recent transport investments related to mega-events would have led to higher accessibility gains for wealthier groups and increased inequalities in access to opportunities. Results suggest that those investments had, or would have had, greater impact on inequalities of access to jobs than in access to schools and healthcare facilities. The evaluation of the future accessibility impacts of the unfinished BRT corridor, nonetheless, indicates that such project could significantly improve access to job opportunities for a large share of Rio’s population, particularly lower-income groups. Spatial analysis techniques show that the magnitude and statistical significance of these results depend on the spatial scale and travel time threshold selected for cumulative opportunity accessibility analysis. These results demonstrate that the ad-hoc methodological choices of accessibility analysis commonly used in the academic and policy literature can change the conclusions of equity assessments of transportation projects.

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“…This raises the following question: do BRT accidents afect mobility in megacities such as Mexico city? Vermeiren [32] argue that urban growth decreases individual mobility and argue, "An individual is considered highly mobile when he or she is able to easily and comfortably reach his or her destination(s) in space and time." Efectively, this is dependent, among other things, on the city's transportation network free of accidents.…”

Section: Urban Transport Systems 138mentioning

confidence: 99%

Bus Rapid Transit Systems Road Safety: A Case Study of Mexico City

Santos‐Reyes¹,

Ávalos-Bravo²,

Padilla-Pérez³

2017

Urban Transport Systems

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Who could benefit from a bus rapid transit system in cities from developing countries? A case study from Kampala, Uganda

Cited by 43 publications

References 18 publications

Daily Mobility, Livelihoods and Transport Policies in Kampala, Uganda: A Hägerstrandian Analysis

Daily Mobility, Livelihoods and Transport Policies in Kampala, Uganda: A Hägerstrandian Analysis

Distributive Justice and Transportation Equity: Inequality in accessibility in Rio de Janeiro

Bus Rapid Transit Systems Road Safety: A Case Study of Mexico City

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