High Volume Transport

Vital transport research to ensure accessible, affordable and climate friendly transport for all.

Spotlight on: Informal transport

As we near the end of the HVT programme, we’ve been reflecting on the key themes of our work with stakeholders in the programme.

Here, Oluwaseun Sonoiki from the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, explains how HVT work in the area of informal transport could bring more investment in the future.

Africa’s cities have a transportation problem. Rapid growth is putting overwhelming pressure on road networks. Cars are clogging the streets, releasing emissions that worsen climate change. Expanding public transport is critical.

My home city of Lagos Nigeria is the largest and most congested mega-city in Africa, and it urgently needs more efficient public transport. Even with huge investment into the Bus Rapid Transport network we cannot keep pace with rapid population growth.

Many policymakers and transport planners dismiss informal transport as a problem – as unregulated, unsafe, polluting, and outdated. But the reality is they serve an estimated 70 percent of trips. Integrating our network of Danfos into LAMATA’s formal transport system should be part of the solution for the affordable and green transport that we and other African cities need.

Fortunately, support for alternative solutions are emerging. Stakeholders should work together towards smaller, low-cost and incremental improvements in popular transport services, based on the research and exchange initiatives of groups like C40 Cities, the Global Network for Popular Transport, Mobilise Your Cities, UITP and the HVT Applied Research programme funded by UK-Aid.

We’ve been working as part of the project team for the HVT-funded Inclusive Interchanges project to inform the design and delivery of two interchanges in Lagos. Getting interchange design right and integrating new public transport services with existing informal transport is vital to provide efficient and inclusive mobility for all. Through this project, we’ve developed a design brief to support planners and designers when they review the designs of existing and proposed facilities.

To be sure, working with the popular transport sector is not without its challenges. It takes time to build relationships and find the right balance of policy measures and incentives for making popular transport safer and more reliable

But starting with small steps, the potential for progress across Africa is vast. Cities that show they can work effectively with the existing informal transport sector will be building the competencies required for larger public transport systems, and could bring more investment their way in the future.