'Mobility for poor- Improving Informal Transport' - Dr. Engr. Jnan Ranjan Sil (F/3607) Additional Executive Director, DTCA. Transportation is the rising sector of Bangladesh. It now faces many problems. In urban cities people face major problems in transport systems. Transport systems exist because people need to move. A large section of population in the cities of the developing world cannot afford to have their own personal mode of transport. Such population, which forms a significant share of urban centers, relies on walking, cycling, and formal and informal public transport means for meeting its mobility needs. In most developing countries, the experience has been that the government agencies are unable to provide adequate formal public transport systems; in such cases ‘informal public transport’ systems emerge to cater to the demand. In fact, even where public transport is adequate, informal transport systems cater to the mobility needs unmet/partially met by the formal public transport systems; in such cases, informal systems provide last mile connectivity, compliment the formal systems and provide more options to commuters, which may be more flexible and cheaper. Because of such characteristic nature of informal transport systems, they largely cater to the needs of the urban poor/low-income population who do not have much mobility options, especially when they have to travel longer distances. A review of literature indicates confusion regarding how we define/identify informal transport modes. The fact that such systems are termed as ‘informal’ indicates that they do not work like formal systems i.e. they lack licenses, vehicles are unregistered, they pick up passengers in undesignated places, they do not follow traffic rules, they do not have to meet any technical standards to ensure safety of passengers, etc. However, such definition/criteria may not always be followed to designate a mode as ‘informal’. The confusion mainly happens with regard to legal/regulatory recognition of informal modes. While in many cases, we may identify a mode as informal, it is not necessary that it may be totally independent of any regulation/ legality. For e.g. many would regard Tuk-tuks in Bangkok as ‘informal’, however, they do require license from the government. They probably qualify as ‘informal’ due to the nature of their operations and the fact that they are not provided by government agencies. There is also a need to make distinction between intermediate para transit and informal transport. Intermediate para transit like auto rickshaws and Becak in Jakarta. Taxis in many countries including India are regulated (tariffs, vehicle registration, safety/ emission regulations, etc.). They however do not have designated routes and have flexibility in terms of following route of their choice. A key distinction between ‘para transit’ and ‘informal transport’ is in terms of their affordability to urban poor/low income population. While para transit modes are usually expensive than formal and informal public transport, informal transport modes are cheaper. Low capital and maintenance costs help the operators of these modes to reduce fares, which essentially make these modes more affordable to low income population. If we consider formalizing these systems, we need to be careful in terms of not effecting an increase in the costs to these operators, as this will then force them to increase the fares, hence defeating the whole idea of these modes as ‘pro-poor modes’.
Given the above-mentioned differences in understanding, definition and approach to address the informal transport and it is need to improving its mobility for poor. In this light of view I have prepared a literature " Mobility for Poor: Improving informal transport" and this paper was presented on the workshop jointly organized by UN-HABITAT & TERI on “Mobility for the poor: Improving Informal Transport” held at Convention Centre, Maple Hall of The Energy Research Institute (TERI), New Delhi , India on 3-5 October 2012.)
Definition of Informal Transport: As definition of Informal indicates that they do not work like formal systems i.e. they lack of licenses, vehicles are unregistered, they pick up passengers in undesignated places, they do not follow traffic rules, they do not have to meet any technical standards to ensure safety of passengers, etc. However, such definition /criteria may not always be followed to designate a mode as ‘informal’. The confusion mainly happens with regard to legal/ regulatory recognition of informal modes. While in many cases, we may identify a mode as informal, it is not necessary that it may be totally independent of any regulation / legality. The informal transport comprises mostly small-vehicles, low-performance services that are privately operated and that charge commercial rates to, for the most part; low-income, car-less individuals making non-work trips. Like other informal business generally speaking; the informal transport sector is made up of selfemployed entrepreneurs who lack official registration, and who work long, hard hours in a highly competitive market place. For example, in Dhaka case we identify Auto Rickshaw, Auto tempo, Baby Taxi, Human Hauler (Private mini bus), etc are registered from BRTA but they may be a informal transport. TRANSPORT SYSTEMS IN BANGLADESH: • DTCA, Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority • BRTC (Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation) Under the Ministry of Communication, maintaining Public transports. • BRTA is an authority to registering vehicles, and also the licensing authority. • Here Private transport is dominating. • Vehicle classes by BRTA (Bangladesh Road Transport authority). Now they register 43 classes of vehicles. • BRTA registered motorized vehicle with self propeller system, where • Dhaka City corporation registered non-motorized vehicle like rickshaws, vans etc. • In Dhaka city we have also seen converted mini buses; jeeps which are also carry people and goods as well. The scenarios of existing Dhaka city: • Dhaka is one of the least motorized regions with approximately 32 motorized vehicles per 1000 residents. Only 14% of mechanized journeys are made by automobiles and about 60% of people travel by buses. • Good transport in low-income cities like Dhaka can be an important employer by creating laboring jobs and hauling goods on hand carts or rickshaws. • The use of motorized traffic is still in its infancy in Dhaka and there are a large number of ways in which to plan for the future increases.
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As a result of these differences, it is likely that there will need to be a control of automobile access to the older parts of the existing city with higher accessibility being planned areas with some areas being designated as car-free zones.
DHAKA CITY Current status: • Bangladesh was ranked 146th out of 187 countries in the 2011 Human Development Index, and Dhaka is consistently ranked one of the world’s most unlivable cities in the Global Live-ability Report. • Traffic congestion and air pollution play a major role in these poor rankings Greater Dhaka is one of the fastest-growing mega-cities and one of the most densely populated cities in the world. • Since 2000, its population has more than doubled and it is projected to grow from 17 million in 2012 to 25 million in 2025. • Such high density in a city with limited inhabitable land—owing to the city’s topography, limited infrastructure, and low level of public services—results in tremendous congestion and constrains the UTS’ ability to provide mobility for all people. . In Dhaka city major modes of transports are informal. Rapid growth and rising popularity of the informal modes of transport among the low population groups are increasing. Table 12: Number of Registered Motor Vehicles in Dhaka Upto2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Total (Upto Share Jun-11 June (%) 2011)
Motor Car
87866
4734
5633
7403
10244
13749
17654
19557
7282
174122
27.08
Jeep/Micr o Bus
32391
2114
3303
4548
4372
5077
6803
6687
3007
68302
10.62
Taxi
9369
523
514
266
0
0
10
0
0
10682
1.66
Bus
2614
779
728
949
1082
1144
914
1101
600
9911
1.54
Minibus
7460
368
118
75
77
107
112
142
56
8515
1.32
Truck
20342
1437
1104
1480
830
1642
3180
4543
2364
36922
5.74
3-wheeler
10687
2344
139
230
121
155
1144
1362
776
16958
2.64
Motor Cycle
119299
7872
12879
16284
17303
23713
22093
30264
18588
268295
41.73
Others
13187
1300
2361
2728
2913
2550
4868
12225
7164
49296
7.67
Total
303215
21471
26779
33963
36942
48137
56778
75881
39837
643003
100.00
Modes of Travel (According to STP)
Non-Motorized On Foot (Pedestrian)
:
14%
NMT’S (Rickshaws)
:
34%
Total Non-Motorized Share
:
48%
Motorized Public Transit (Buses) Private cars etc. (Growing very rapidly)
:
44%
:
8%
Total Motorized Share
:
52%
Private cars etc., 8%
On Foot (Pedestrian) , 14% On Foot (Pedestrian) NMT’S (Rickshaws)
Public Transit (Buses), 44 %
NMT’S (Rickshaws), 34%
Public Transit (Buses) Private cars etc.
The key roles of informal transport in meeting the mobility needs of the poor/low-income population: The informal transport sector provides real and meaningful benefits to significant segments of populations of many third-world countries. a) Mobility and development: The chief benefit of informal transport is that provides much-valued mobility especially for the poor/low-income populations. Ninety-five out of hundred house-holds in the Dhaka city doesn’t own or have access to a private automobiles; thus they are entirely depends on public transport for reaching jobs, markets, medical clinics, and other destinations. Women make up the majority of customers. Where bus and other services are irregular, unreliable or non-existent, informal transport operators provide indispensable services. Private jitneys and mini-vans often ply routes and enter neighborhoods that are in accessible by buses. The important role in connecting poor neighborhoods to job centers is often under appreciated. Informal transport is often of greater value in delivering workers to the factories and mass assembly plants of the developing world than is realized. Even though informal carriers provide much-valued mobility for the poor, the cost of atomized, uncoordinated services can quickly mount for many low-skilled day laborer’s who are forced to live in informal housing settlements on the peripheries of the world’s mega city like Dhaka. b) Source of Employment: Informal transport provides desperately needed employment for hundreds of thousand of unskilled young men, many who have just arrived from countryside’s in hopes of improving their lives. It is often a gateway to urban employment. It often generates enough income to get them established until they can land a better job. In many poor cities, informal transport comprises as much as 15% of total employment. In Dhaka, Bangladesh the figure is closer to 30%; with a good 100,000 plus men and boys hauling patrons and goods aboard Pedi cabs for a living. Adding intermediate goods and services like vehicle maintenance and local vehicle production, assemblies, and parts retailing increases the percentages even more. The significant employment role played by informal transport is perhaps no surprise given of many industrialized nations. There is no reason why transport, even if informally provided
can play as big of role in the creation of wealth is squatters, kampongs, flagella’s, and barrios as in affluent nations. c) Complementarity: Informal transport is often leaned upon by formal operators to provide feeder connections between neighborhood’s and trunk routes. The compensating role played by informal transport has been particularly essential in light of declining public resources and institutional capacities. It also tend to enrich service offering by providing greater diversity and differentiation. Informal transport enriches the tapestry of urban transport offerings. d) Efficient, low cost service: As noted, informal transport is resourceful and cost-effective. Handwork and no-frill services keep costs low. The drive to maximize earnings and frequent passenger turn-over produce high patronage counts. The efficiency benefits of informal services likely extend to the formal sector as well. e) Market responsiveness: Informal operators can easily alter schedules, routes, and operating practices in response to shifting market conditions. Private minibus and micro vehicle operators are more likely to craft new, tailor-made services in response to increases in suburb −to−suburb commutes, trip chaining, and offpeak travel than are public authorities. Their inherent flexibility and sensitivities to changing markets stand in sharp contrast to the rigidities and unresponsiveness of protected monopolies.
ROLE OF INFORMAL TRANSPORT • The transport needs of the poor would be better met by supporting the informal sector. • The poor confront every day problem related to mobility such as access to employment, social services, educational opportunities and domestic tasks. • Non-motorized users, who are primarily the poor, are the majority in south-Saharan Africa (on foot) and south East Asia (bicycles, cycle rickshaws, bullock carts, and traditional country boats on the inland waterways). • In Bangladesh, one of the most important sectors is the country boat sector, a largely unregulated, informal sector which employs more than two million people and provides the main source of income to large number of landless poor. • This sector has staged a remarkable comeback during last decade, after the boatmen adopted inexpensive irrigation pump engines to mechanize their boats. Bank now is ready to credit them loan.
The key challenges associated with formal transport: • • • • •
The key challenges associated with formal transport: For true sense, role of informal transport in meeting needs of the poor/low-income population are not effective because of high cost of informal transport fare rate. People avail this type of transport for their urgent need. Space problem, though it is less ignition of carbon and environment friendly but due lane differentiation and space short their existent restrict by the authority. In this case public mass transport is the one of its solution. Concern is that the sector is responsible for significant negative externalities, like traffic congestion and accidents that harm public safety and welfare.
How can we improve informal transport?
We can improve the informal transport through the following strategies and programs:(1) Management and organizational options; (2) regulatory reforms; (3) financial initiatives; (4) infrastructure improvements; (5) traffic management; (6) training; and (7) demonstration programs. The common view of the informal transport sector as anarchistic and chaotic is largely misplaced. In reality, all forms of paratransit services, including informal ones, exercise some degree of self−policing and self−restraint. This responsibility falls principally on the shoulders of route associations. In ways, these cooperatives are the institutional counterparts to informal services themselves. Like minibus operators, they fill a vacuum left over by the public sector. Namely, they rationalize services, to some degree, by ensuring not too many operators duplicate each others’ routes and practices like head−running and interloping are curbed. Some impose their own form of sanctions, including peer pressure and fines, against routine violators. Institutionally, route associations fill the regulatory void left by weak governance and public oversight. In Dhaka City, associations have independently taken over the management and control of nearly all routes of transports.. Notwithstanding the inroads made by route associations, some countries with informal transport services maintain some levels of regulatory control over market entry, indemnification, pricing, service practices, and fitness. What is far more variable, however, is the level of commitment to monitoring and enforcing rules and regulations. Again, in many areas with thriving informal transport services, this responsibility rests with route associations. Government’s role in the realm of informal services, however, should not be solely a disciplinary one. There is also a need for active promotion. The two most effective potential ways this can be accomplished are through public assistance in aiding operators finance vehicle purchases (when additional numbers can be justified) and in constructing supportive infrastructure, like off-street terminals.
What are the key traits of Informal transport? • • •
•
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The informal transport comprises mostly small-vehicles, low-performance services that are privately operated and that charge commercial rates to, for the most part; low-income, car-less individuals making non-work trips. Like other informal business generally speaking; the informal transport sector is made up of self-employed entrepreneurs who lack official registration, and who work long, hard hours in a highly competitive market place. The key traits are as follows: a) Entrepreneurialism: b) Small, aging vehicles: c) Low-performance services: d) Competitive, niche markets: A) Entrepreneurialism: Informal transport is without exception the domain of private sector-owned and operated by private financers. Drivers sometimes own vehicles, though in many instances vehicles are leased by absentee-owners for set fee or a share of daily proceeds. B) Small, aging vehicles: Universally, small vehicles dominate the informal sector- small, at least in comparison to conventional buses and other modes of the formal sector. Usually, vehicles seat anywhere from one to sixteen passengers. Small vehicles enjoy
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•
several advantages over bigger ones; they take less time to load and unload, they arrive more often, and they stop less frequently. C) Low-performance services: A advantage of small vehicles is their low-power-toweight ratios, and thus slow average speeds. Slow speeds pose problems mainly because they are at odds with what is rapidly becoming the mobility standard of the worldautomobile travel. Slow-op-to-and-go movement, the predominance of old, undermaintained vehicles, and crowded, uncomfortable interior conditions mean service quality is often low. D) Competitive, niche markets: Pedi cab, for hire motorcycle, and jitney operators vie in fiercely competitive market places, relying on hard work and low ratios of capital-tolabor to eke out a living.
CONCLUSSION: Informal transports play the significant role in meeting the niche mobility demands of the poor. Cities in the developing countries have been witnessing a rapid increase in mobility demand, which has led to fast motorization. The number o personal vehicles are on a rise in most cities. With absence of adequate public transport and robust urban planning, the urban areas are facing challenges like accidents, congestion and pollution. The worst affected due the current urban transport growth trends are the urban poor who are most exposed to these deteriorating conditions. Uncontrolled urban sprawls require them to commute large distances for employment at minimal costs or force them to live in congested city centers to avoid transport costs. With increased private motor vehicles and buses competing for road space and hardly any infrastructure for non-motorized transport, it becomes riskier for the urban poor and vulnerable commuters to travel by non-motorized transport means, leaving very few modal choices for them. It is required the need to improve these informal modes so as to
ensure better accessibility of urban transport services through last mile connectivity, and also to meet the mobility needs of the poor. With longer distances to be travelled and lack of adequate and affordable transport services for this section of population, many urban and peri-urban areas have seen a rapid growth of informal public transportation modes, mainly catered by private sector, for providing low cost mobility options. Informal transport systems do provide the much-needed, low-cost transport services for poor in the cities of the developing world.