Abstract

Part of the The Urban Book Series book series (UBS)

Abstract

Access to safe and inclusive public transportation is set out in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as foundational to improving the human condition. Public transport throughout Africa, however, is a complex endeavour. It spans many modes such as the largely informally (or semi-formally) operated vans and minibuses, traditional taxis, as well as motorcycle taxis common in cities throughout the continent. While new technologies (e.g., Intelligent Transportation Systems, ride-hailing apps) and construction projects to add infrastructure capacity may continue to improve the operational efficiency of these modes and shape the future mobility trends in many cities in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there is still much work to be done to address the all too pervasive lack of safety and personal security which threaten the adoption of certain public transport modes across the continent. Current and future transport modes must be safe to promote inclusivity. This chapter examines the existing research published in the literature on challenges and opportunities facing public transport safety across the continent. This information is then combined with further research into public transport safety and security issues in Ghana and Namibia. In doing so, it presents evidenced-based strategies to meet these challenges, while also identifying and illustrating opportunities to address them through human factors focused efforts (education, outreach, training, and enforcement), as well as deployments of new technologies to collect and analyse relevant data on which to develop and deploy a Safe System based approach to mitigation.

Keywords
Safe systems,
Public transport,
Transport safety,
Intelligent transportation systems,

Keywords