ABSTRACT
Trotros and taxis are vital modes of public transportation
as they help address the mobility needs of transportation-disadvantaged groups
in Ghana. There have been perceived safety concerns related to public
transportation in terms of road crashes in the Kumasi Metropolis. This study
analysed and evaluated comparatively the safety of the use of trotros and taxis
for public transportation. To realise the aims of this study, information was
elicited from operators and passengers of the two modes using questionnaires.
In addition, road traffic crash data was obtained for the study area and
analysed. General field observation was used to obtain additional inputs on
selected roads within the metropolis. The study established that both trotros
and taxis are the major modes of public transportation in the metropolis. In
terms of safety, there are similarities in trends for both modes for all
accident categories, except for fatalities which showed a significantly
increasing trend for trotros compared to that of taxis. Most of the safety
issues associated with the two modes were partly due to traffic management and
partly due to inadequate infrastructure. It is concluded that despite the
similarities in operations, traffic conditions, routing, and accident trends
and types, taxis as a mode of public transportation in the metropolis are
generally safer compared to trotros.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Public transportation is an integral part of national
development. When cities expand, due to growth in economy, public
transportation provides necessary access and mobility to citizens. The
composition of public transportation in Ghana is mainly trotro and taxis. These
modes identify with lower income earners for their commercial interactions and
private purposes. A significant number of Ghanaians fall into this category and
this makes public transportation (trotro and taxis) a vital component of the
national economy. When public transportation is properly managed and made
attractive, some aspects of safety and congestion concerns can be greatly
reduced. However public transport faces severe problems in almost all countries
of the developing world, although the situation varies from one country to
another (Pucher et al, 2004).
The rapid growth of Ghana's urban population coupled with the
collapse of the rail network has put enormous strains on the other urban
transport systems. Problems such as road traffic accidents, congestion, noise,
air pollution (carbon and toxic gas emissions) among others are prevalent.
There is concern that in developing countries, very little attention is given
to these critical problems in public transportation.
1.2 Overview of Public Transportation in Ghana
When economic activities increase or when there is population
growth such as communities expanding into cities, household settings and
activities change. This causes people to make more trips. In the past few
decades, such changes have been so rapid that development of public
transportation seems to always lag behind. It is therefore, imperative for
government to invest in the transport industry for people to get safe, reliable, accessible and
comfortable means of moving about.
Public transport is a shared passenger transport service
which is available for use by the general public and may be provided by one or
more private transport operators or by the government. In Ghana, the modern
public transportation system dates as far back as 1898 when the first rail line
was constructed from Takoradi to Tarkwa mainly for the commercial exploitation
of gold and timber; movement of people became a by-product as a result. In
1927, the Accra Town Council operated bus services in Accra. Governments over
the years have established bus service companies such as the Omnibus Services
Authority (OSA), State Transport Company (STC), City Express Services (CES),
and lately Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited. These were introduced for various
reasons including government‟s social obligations, environmental factors,
energy considerations and the promotion of efficient public transportation to
increase productivity and economic growth (Yobo, 2013).
The problems associated with public transportation are
enormous and mostly observed in developing countries such as Ghana. A glimpse
of the national outlook suggests that there is rapid demographic and economic
growth, and since successful growth is linked to improved mobility of people,
the transportation industry must develop at equal pace, else a substantial
level of anxiety and discomfort among commuters will be created. The emergence
of commercial motorcycle transport gives an indication of inadequate public
transport services. Road transport services provided by operators in both the
formal and informal sectors have been characterized by very harsh uncertainty
factors which have contributed to the low levels of transport services in the
industry. Prominent among the uncertainty factors are:
* Reliability
* Safety
* Regulations
* Environmental and economic factors
Observably, there is limited regulatory/institutional
effectiveness and lack of a clear and comprehensive policy on public transport.
Vehicle operators are subjected to minimal regulations in terms of the
authority to operate as commercial vehicles, area of coverage, safety standards
of operation, maintenance of vehicles and related emissions and following any
regular schedule.
This situation has led to freedom to enter the sector and the
liberty to leave at will. According to the Ministry of Transport, the urban
public transportation is now dominated by the informal private sector which
provides about 95% of transport services but their services are generally
unreliable, uncomfortable and unsafe (Wilson, 2006).
Finance is a limiting factor due to the huge capital outlay
for public transport operations. The operations are mainly foreign exchange
driven; vehicle spare parts, maintenance equipment, tyres and fuel all need to
be imported. In spite of the fact that managers of public transport fail to
incorporate asset replacement policies and programs in their corporate plans,
gains recorded in their operations which could be used to finance asset
replacement programs are eroded in no time by inflation and other negative features
present in the economy.
The sustenance and growing concern of public transport is,
therefore, disturbing to the extent that to replace vehicles, especially at the
end of their useful lives becomes very difficult. The vehicles get older, cost of operations and
maintenance soar up, eventually either the safety of the vehicle is compromised
or its operations grind to a halt.
1.3 Road Safety Challenges
Road safety is a major problem, as motor accident rates
recorded year on year basis are rising and often resulting in loss of life,
severe injuries inflicted on victims and substantial damage to property, as
well as lost time and effort of road regulation authorities. According to the
National Road Safety Commission Annual Report for 2011, during the 7-year
period from 2002 to 2008, the number of people killed on Ghana‟s roads averaged
1,840 annually. In a country where so many options are not available for
transporting goods and people, road travel becomes the only available option.
Patrons of the road transport must adjust to the uncomfortable probability of a
fatality situation.
The National Road Safety Commission has indicated that,
despite huge investments in road safety by way of education and publicity,
motor accidents constitute a real menace to transportation. It is estimated
that road traffic crashes costs Ghana about 1.6 % of her GDP (US$ 165 million
in 2006). Available statistics point to rising absolute fatalities (NRSC,
2011). The existing scenario suggests the current rising trends in population
growth and vehicle ownership could lead to further increases in the number of
road traffic crashes if serious efforts are not made to reverse the upward
trend.
This research focused on the safety aspect of urban public
transportation particularly taxis and trotros, since road traffic accidents
cause significant damage to national progress in terms of fatalities, damage
and loss of property. It is important to put the issues into an engineering perspective, where specific safety
concerns are examined in detail and a suitable solution developed to address
the problem.
1.4 Trotros and Taxis in Ghana
Minivans operating in the public transportation business
called trotros in Ghana are peculiar to third world countries and provide a
vital public service by transporting up to twenty passengers around the city
and countryside. The trotro system works around a tenet central to Ghanaian
society: waiting for fully loaded vehicle before setting off. There is no
scheduling, no map outlining routes and no advance tickets sold. One just has
to wait at the side of the road to board them. Geared toward the needs of the
masses, trotros are privately owned and operated. Trotro is often operated by
both a driver and a conductor called a mate (who collects money, shouts out the
destination). The mate will hit the roof and side of the van to attract
passengers and notify the driver when to stop or leave a bus stop. Used by
almost 70% of Ghanaian commuters, trotros are the most popular form of
transport for work and shopping in the country as of 2010. In Ghana, trotros
are licensed by the government, but the industry is arguably self-regulated. In
the absence of a government controlled and regulatory frame, groupings called
syndicates oversee the operations of the trotros. These groups may collect
dues, set routes, manage terminals, and fix fares. Such syndicates include
GPRTU and PROTOA (Blaustein, 2010).
In Ghana, taxis typically operate in a shared mode although
use by a single passenger or a small group of passengers is also possible.
Trotros and taxis operate along specific routes with pick-up and drop-off
locations being determined by the service provider, not by the passenger,
although demand responsive transport and shared taxis provide a hybrid.
In the developed countries, analyses are frequently made to
determine what role vehicle safety improvements play in the historically low
fatality and injury rates. Concern therefore arises because in a developing
country such as Ghana, it is very rare to see new vehicles being used in urban
public transportation and hence unlikely to benefit in the immediate future
from the vehicle safety improvements. Efficient safety analysis of the current
fleet becomes inevitable if any safety standards are to be met.
There also exist the perception of disconnect between the
safety issues on roads, regulations and the improvements required to deal with
the problems. Government policy generally tends to concentrate efforts on the
concerns of road congestion and accessibility. There are several reasons why
road safety is not treated in a proactive manner but rather reactively. One of
such is the lack of available data and analysis for evaluating the safety and
comprehensive analysis of urban public transportation.
In confronting these issues in a holistic manner, researches
are conducted and various recommendations implemented, monitored and evaluated
to ascertain if there is an improvement in the initial condition.
Unfortunately, the main modes of public transportation (trotros and taxis) in
the country have been the subjects of little published research and despite
their significance within modern society there is very little literature
available. Research into the safety of public transportation is scanty and
mostly generalized; this makes it difficult in finding specific engineering
solution to the problems. One way of attempting to compensate for these problems
is to limit the scope of this research to the essential groups of public
transportation of which trotro and taxis are the most popular.
It becomes vital to focus research on the safety of the
popular modes of public transportation to ascertain its specific effects on
public transportation and serve as a bench mark to evaluate new modes and guide
any eventual introduction into the transportation system.
With the sprawling residential development and economic growth
in urban areas, public transportation activities will necessarily increase and
become diversified with time. Care must be taken because there are enormous
losses when road traffic accidents occur as all sorts of transportation modes
are introduced unto the network. These can be enumerated as:
* The trauma of death after losing a relative
* Damage to property and injuries
* The loss of productive capacity
* Resources for investigations by the police and insurance
companies.
This implies much work must be done in understanding the
causes of motor vehicle accidents in urban public transportation, and in
developing possible preventative measures that would avoid or minimize
accidents.
It becomes so important therefore to investigate the safety trend and its implications, analyse the data collected to aid a better perspective and a regulatory framework on the issue of safety in urban public transport systems.
It becomes so important therefore to investigate the safety trend and its implications, analyse the data collected to aid a better perspective and a regulatory framework on the issue of safety in urban public transport systems.
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Item Type: Ghanaian Topic | Size: 66 pages | Chapters: 1-5
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