Transport Vulnerability and Coping Strategy in Addis Ababa: A Focus on Public Transit Service Users
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Date
2024-07-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The exacerbated mobility challenges in many developing cities poses great challenges on planners and policy makers. Cities are increasingly growing and are undergoing rapid changes. As a result, a rising number of urban residents are facing higher cost of transport, traffic congestion, travel time and the resultant increase in their vulnerability. Vulnerability is a concept that has been applied in transport discourse or research in order to address the social dimension of mobility. The objective of this study is to examine the vulnerability, exposure of public transit users to travel difficulties and their coping strategies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Personal, travel attributes and the contribution of broad factors such as government policies, population growth, physical expansion of the city and motorization rate to transit related vulnerability were considered in the analysis. Based on the pragmatic philosophical stance, the research used a mixed method approach. The analysis is based on a data collected in Addis Ababa from 457 public transit users. The study applied proportions, percentages and cross tabulation of key variables and statistical methods, such as one-way ANOVA, multinomial and binary logistic regression to analyze vulnerability and coping strategies of transit users. The result showed that low- and middle-income groups bear a higher level of travel burden, in terms of total travel time and percentage of income spent on transport than high income groups. The result also revealed that coping strategy use is higher among long distance travelers, middle income groups (regular commuters) and females than other groups. In terms of policy measures, the implementation of Urban Development Policy (UDP), inner-city redevelopment program induced relocation of low-income residents in the outskirts of the city and resulted in significant transit service coverage gap. Therefore, policy efforts that are meant to address social problems such as housing development policies have to properly be integrated with transport planning. This involves facilitating the integration of peoples and homes with employment and other essential infrastructure by mixing housing and job opportunities in the inner city and surrounding areas. From the results obtained by the analysis of desired improvement on public transport service, the first suggested area for improvement is availability followed by safety and security, affordability and comfort. The message is that public transit users are aware of the need for the improvement of the above-mentioned service parameters. Therefore, the research emphasizes the need to improve the current state of public transit service provision in the city by considering the needs and priorities of users.
Keywords: Public transit, Vulnerability, Coping strategy, Addis Ababa