Transport Justice in Africa: Insights from Dr. Alphonse Nkurunziza’s Seminar at UT
On November 13th, Professor Alphonse Nkurunziza, Director of African Centre of Excellence in Transport and Logistics at the College of Science and Technology of the University of Rwanda, gave a seminar to students and faculty of the Future Mobility Cluster. His presentation was on the topic of “Transport Planning based on the Principles of Justice in Africa: piloting a proof of concept in Kigali and Blantyre.”
Sharing Knowledge
Dr. Nkurunziza visited Knoxville with the goals of building collaboration with UT’s transportation researchers as he works to improve the current transportation system in his country. In the seminar, he shared the planning processes with researchers in the Future Mobility Cluster. During his presentation, he addressed the pressing issue of traffic congestion in Kigali, Rwanda, and Blantyre, Malawi. Dr. Nkurunziza asserted, “Congestion cannot be resolved by increasing supply because people respond to more supply,” emphasizing that 90% of the population in Rwanda does not own cars. Instead, individuals rely on bus services, bicycles or walking rather than motor vehicles due to affordability. A photo of a lengthy line of people waiting to board a bus reinforced the narrative that there was significantly more demand than available transportation options. The map of vehicle ownership included below highlights the fact that bicycle ownership is the primary vehicle in the rural areas outside of Kigali.
Since the vast majority of people do not own cars, Dr. Nkurunziza raised the question, “Are we providing the appropriate mode of transportation for the populations we serve?”. Traditional urban planning has frequently focused on enhancing accessibility for car users, which inadvertently limits mobility for those without vehicle access. “Every individual ought to be sufficiently accommodated by the transportation system,” he stated, citing Karel Martens’ book Transport Justice, which suggests that “Planning should be more people-centered.”
By the Numbers
To give perspective, Rwanda has twenty vehicles per 1,000 people, compared to 850 cars per 1,000 people in the United States. As part of the master planning initiative, University of Rwanda students conducted outreach in rural villages to solicit feedback from community members regarding their transportation needs. This engagement included focus groups, Transportation Advisory Group (TAG) meetings, stakeholder interactions, and input collected from social media platforms. The findings of these grassroots research endeavors were offered as recommendations for the comprehensive plan.
Dr. Nkurunziza underscored the need for enhanced walkways and bicycle paths throughout urban areas, noting the continued prevalence of pedestrians on the streets. He reiterated the importance of persistently evaluating whether we adequately address the community’s transportation needs, showing the relationship between types of transportation and the accessibility and potential mobility for travel by car, walking, and cycling.
· Potential accessibility by car is about 110,000 jobs, 50% of the total jobs (estimated as 212,000).
· The number of jobs “potentially” reachable by walking is only 8,400 jobs.
· For cycling, there are about 41,600 jobs.
· Households with access to a car are thirteen times better off than households with NMT regarding potential opportunities within reach.
Dr. Nkurunziza concluded his presentation by discussing the advantages of a participatory and integrated approach to transportation planning. This approach can improve the future of transportation and meet the needs of those in Kigali, Blantyre, and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.