Drawbacks and opportunities in the mobility supply by the informal sector. The example of moto-taxis in cities of the Sub-Sahara.

• Applicants: Professor Dr.-Ing. Dirk Heinrichs, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Barbara Lenz
• Subject Area: Human Geography ; Traffic and Transport Systems, Intelligent and Automated Traffic
• Term: from 2014 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 259000122

Drawbacks and opportunities in the mobility supply by the informal sector. The example of moto-taxis in cities of the Sub-Sahara. In the fast-growing cities of sub-Saharan Africa, there is a deficiency of state-provided local public transport systems. Whilst it is true that the deficit in provision is compensated for by transport supplied by the informal sector, at the same time this leads to the introduction of new, and the improvement of existing, provision often being hampered or even torpedoed. Regulations concerning the improvement of informal transport provision fail not only due to the public authorities lacking the means of enforcement; they also often go against the interests of the actors in the system of individual provision. In order to develop a more powerful urban transport system, the actors involved (the various providers and those dependent on them for employment, often without any form of contract) and their interests must therefore be known. Furthermore, the influence of the current framework conditions (regulation; state or other forms of institutional support; funding options) on the form and organization of transport provision and the possibilities of its further development must be understood. In light of this, the goal of the project is to comparatively examine the system of provision, the interests of the actors and the operations arising from them, in N'Djamena (Chad) and Cotonou (Benin), two fast-growing cities in sub-Saharan Africa. Both cities were selected because they manifest many similarities in development. The specific provision to be observed as an example is the mototaxi, which has for a long time formed an especially flexible form of public transport in sub-Saharan African cities and, in view of growing mobility demand, is gaining increasing significance. Mototaxi provision is playing a special role in the expansion of cities, as it can react rapidly to new needs. The questions to be particularly addressed in the examination of moto-taxi provision can be divided into three groups: (1) the provision and its characteristics (service areas, costs, attributes), (2) the actors and their roles, (3) the actors underlying rules and dependencies. The project findings provide an essential scientific contribution to the understanding of the interaction of spatial and transport development in the cities of sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, the project aims at supporting practical usability. Therefore, new prospects for the improvement of the local transport situation and for future development strategies will be opened up in discussion with local scientists, but also with those responsible for planning. These findings will be particularly useful for institutions involved as funding bodies in the development of transport in African cities.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants