Popular-to-Popular Transport Integration in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Rwanda and Ghana (POINT)

Popular transport systems, comprising minibuses, rickshaw or motorcycle taxis, walking and cycling are the mainstay of mobility in many African cities. They are often organised, enabled and practised without obvious leadership and clear ideology by multiple fragmented actors who also usually lack the much-needed financial and other capabilities to integrate the underlying infrastructures to support seamless access. Meanwhile, national and city leaders and their international development partners overlook many popular transport systems and instead prioritise investments in large-scale, carbon-intensive infrastructures, such as motorways, parking facilities, and other projects that favour private motorised travel and benefit a privileged few. 

However, with the growing recognition that popular transport will continue to be a large part of the system for providing collective mobility in African cities and combating climate change, momentum is building around how to embrace, engage, and integrate them into urban and transportation planning to support equitable affordable and reliable access to livelihoods, services, and opportunities. While a welcome change, much of it is focused on integrating some popular transport modes – particularly minibuses or paratransit, walking and cycling – into formal modes or scheduled service operations. 

Little consideration is given to popular-to-popular transport mode/infrastructure integration, which has the most potential to deliver more equity and reduce transport-related social exclusions as popular transport modes tend to serve disadvantaged populations and communities. By concentrating on four popular neighbourhoods in the cities of Accra and Kumasi in Ghana and Kigali and Huye in Rwanda, this project hopes to change this.  

The project outcomes will include data and rigorous analyses that can help in improving infrastructural configurations and interfaces of popular transport systems. The improvements will increase    equitable, affordable and reliable access to livelihoods, services, and urban activities for disadvantaged individuals and communities groups in the city, including many women, children, older adults and people with a disability. The project will also deliver 7–8 working papers and 8–10 peer reviewed articles; strengthen local multi-actor networks, collaborations and dialogues; and support the careers of 8 next generation of scholars in Ghana and Rwanda.