Africa's major cities to rely on public transportation to meet growing demands
Africa's major cities to rely on public transportation to ease the growing demands of urban transportation
Every day, the Lagos consultant leaves his house before sunrise, arrives at work early, and sleeps before beginning his day.
He then remains until 9 p.m., avoiding the turmoil and bottlenecks that can turn his 29-kilometer (18-mile) trip into a three-hour nightmare.
Balogun claims that by the time he arrives home, his daughters are already asleep. However, he adds wryly, his blood pressure has stayed stable: "Lagos traffic can be a health hazard."
Balogun's journey underlines the misery of Nigeria's economic center and other rapidly expanding African cities as the world's population approaches eight billion in the coming days.
Except for a few wealthy enclaves, Lagos's 20 million residents struggle every day with notoriously poor infrastructure in a metropolitan area spreading across approximately 1,200 square kilometers (450 square miles).
The city is dependent on roadways, which are clogged with automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, and packed yellow Danfo minibusses, as well as hawkers who weave in between the disorderly lanes of traffic.
The Lagos State administration has big plans to change this, including a new airport and a public transit network of trains, buses, and ferries.
"Your transportation infrastructure must be adequate and effective for the economy of any city to grow," Lagos metropolitan transport authority chief Abimbola Akinajo told AFP.
"It's a huge element of what we need to do right for the city to function properly."
Train network
However, experts believe this blueprint's financial and logistical obstacles are tremendous, and some wonder if some basic questions have been considered.
"We need to comprehend what Lagos is." "Whether Lagos as a state, Lagos as a metropolis, or Lagos as a megacity," said Muyiwa Agunbiade, an urban development professor at the University of Lagos.
"It's tough for us to plan for the people if you don't know the population."
Delivering large transportation projects on schedule and on a budget is a challenge practically everywhere in the globe.
In the instance of Lagos, however, a much-touted metropolitan rail network has been delayed by more than a decade.
Akinajo conceded that finance and execution issues have stymied the program, but asserted that a portion of one train line will be completed this year and begin transporting passengers by early 2023.
Engineers are testing trains along half of the Blue line route, one of six in a network that will eventually connect rail to highly regulated buses and ferries.
Lagos intends to attract investors by running just one line, according to Akinajo. British consultants and the French development agency are assisting.
Agunbiade felt that it was critical to start things going.
"If you get all of this to function, it will be a game changer."
The issues confronting Lagos have echoed everywhere in rapidly urbanizing Africa, where population growth frequently outpaces basic infrastructure and planning.
According to academics at the University of Toronto Global Cities Institute, Kinshasa, DR Congo, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, are on course to join Lagos as the world's three most populous cities by 2100.
Dar es Salaam has already had some success with dedicated Bus Rapid Transit routes, which, along with expanded highways, have alleviated dense traffic congestion.
Kinshasa is more complicated, with displaced persons added to the city's rapidly rising population as a result of a civil conflict in the early 2000s and regional unrest in 2016.
Many individuals choose to walk since the roads are so congested. Taxis and minibusses dubbed "spirits of death" serve as public transportation.
"When you witness the enormity of the traffic jams and the crowds, you realize that road transportation cannot address the problem," said Martin Lukusa, Kinshasa's head of public transportation.
The "Metrokin" project to repair outdated train lines is still under construction.
Waterways
Lagos State is also considering another resource: exploiting the lagoon as a mode of transportation between the city and a tiny stretch of the Atlantic coast.
The Lagos State Waterways Agency's chief, Oluwadamilola Emmanuel, stated that the agency intends to increase the number of operators while also expanding jetty and safety facilities.
Around 300 private boat operators, as well as larger state ferries capable of transporting more people, would be brought into a more regulated system.
He claims that small boat owners just joined a union, making the changeover easier.
"Water is a faster win because we have a natural asset," he said, acknowledging the need to alleviate Lagosians' concerns about marine safety in order to encourage more use.
Traveling by driving from mainland Ikorodu to the Victoria Island business district might take up to two hours, while small boats can span the lagoon in 25 minutes.
The trip, however, is expensive — at 1,000 naira ($2.30), it costs twice as much as a Danfo bus ride.
"The vision is there," one development partner stated. "Financing is an issue. Cost is also an issue. There will still be many people who will pay less to ride the bus."
Lindsay Sawyer, an urban studies scholar at Sheffield University in northern England, agreed that the city needed to keep expenses down and absorb existing informal structures to manage traffic.
"It comes down to affordability and capability." "The Danfo is still omnipresent because it is the most economical alternative," he explained.
Most stressed-out Lagos commuters can only hope for solutions.
"It's a madhouse," said Ochuko Oghuvwu, a Lagos stock manager who commutes 20 hours a week. "Lagos should have a metro line by now."
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