CC BY-NC-ND
0ENHANCING MOBILITY OF THE ELDERLY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA CITIES THROUGH IMPROVED
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
Olufemi ODUFUWA B.
Department of Urban and Regional Planning Faculty of Environmental Technology Olabisi Onabanjo University Ogun State, Nigeria
(Received December 5, 2005)
It is interesting to note that 1975 to 2025 was considered as the "Ageing Era" by the United Nations. Thus, the global ageing of the population most especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa cities is responsible for an increase in demands for social and economic materials which invariably put pressure on the provision of public services such as health and transport. It should be noted that, there is a relationship between the quality of life the elderly and transportation. Thus, transport plays an important role in ensuring an active ageing mobility process.
Recognition have however being given to the elderly through the health-care and the National pension plan. But the most dishearten part that receives little or no attention most especially in Sub- Saharan African countries like Nigeria is the mobility of the elderly. A continent with over 60% ageing population and low per capita income is expected to provide more affordable, convenient, flexible and accessible public transportation services.
This paper analyzed the mobility of the elderly from the provision of public transport perspective and using mobility indicators-mean number of trips, time of travel, travel mode, accessibility and confortability of travel modes. The result shows that the available public transports in Nigeria cities are neither accessible nor convenient for the ageing population. As a result of economic hardship of the Nation for instance, most of the ageing population have no access to private means of mobility and thus they are increasingly dependent on the available public transport to meet their travel needs. Other findings reveals that the elderly makes more trips but with a selective time of travel. Nevertheless, the environmental emissions as well as exposure to traffic accident and long length of travel as a result of frequent traffic congestion have gross implications on the quality of life of the elderly.
Key Words: Mobility, Accessibility, Affordability, Equity, Equality, Transport externalities, Travel behavior
1. INTRODUCTION
Cities in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Nigeria compared with most cities of industrialized countries; result from peculiar spatial and social processes. A notable factor is the unguided urbanization that makes growth and hierarchical ordering difficult to sustain. In actual fact, cities aiming at sustainable livelihoods require efficient accessibility to supplies, services, facilities and job opportunities. Accessibility lies heavily within the realm of transport infrastructure, availability and affordability of transport modes for individual mobility. Based on the United Nations declaration of 1975 to 2025 as the "Ageing Era" and its reality in the present day; is partly responsible for an increase in mobility needs of the ageing population.
Of recent in metropolitan Lagos, the World Bank Report1 reveals that the quality of travel on public transport is poor, unreliable and very often unsafe and insecure. This situation spares no head, as it equally affect the
most vulnerable group (elderly). As population increase of the aged is witnessed in most Sub-Saharan cities, isolation becomes a growing problem; access and mobility are basic critical needs. Thus, affordable, easy-to-use and flexible public transportation are essential for accessing health care services, establishing and maintaining social and family contacts. Like older Americans and other notable cities in the world; there is need for a more proven public transportation service for the ageing population in Sub-Saharan Africa cities. This stem on the fact that, improved public transport service is a necessity for enhanced mobility of the elderly.
Many transport policy discussions on mobility of the elderly, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa gives no attention to the aging population that calls for special means of mobility. This is therefore responsible for various mobility constraints - long waiting hours at bus stops, unfair charges, hostile behaviour of operators, inaccessible location of bus stops and so on witnessed by the elderly. This situation has serious implications on the
livelihood of the elderly. In actual fact, physical capability of users must be taken into consideration when developing appropriate transport policy and provision of public transport services.
This paper is based on a study of the mobility of elderly and Nigerian public transportation crisis. The paper emphasized the need for equity in the usage of public transport service in four Nigerian cities. The paper primarily examines the frequency of trips, quality of public transport service, modal choice, and attitudes of operators to the elderly, safety in and off transit and difficulties encountered on board and off board. The paper suggest some improvement mechanisms for the public transport service to enhance the mobility demand or needs of the elderly in future.
2. METHODOLOGY
Four Nigerian cities were chosen for this study, based on their importance as notable commercial and industrial nerve centres of the country and the continent as a whole. The study was conducted to obtain information on travel patterns of the elderly by public transport. Data were obtained on frequency of trips, car ownership, public transport quality, difficulties in and off transit, needs for special means of mobility and overall impact of ineffective public transport service in achieving sustainable livelihood of the elderly. The study is based on household survey in four cities in Nigeria; while 3556 respondents in the cities were sampled through the instrumentality of the questionnaire. Based on the fact that, users, providers and the government are notable stakeholders in transport sector 2-3; information were obtained from the operators as well as the public transport coordination or management. It's worth mentioning that the target group was the elderly of 60 years and above.
About 80% of the respondents indicated that they have no access to private car and thus depends on various means of urban public transport for intra and inter city travels. Selected cities include Abeokuta in the southwest having a population of about 900,000 (2001 estimate); Jos in the north central part of Nigeria - 800,030; Abuja, the Federal capital, located in the central part of the country with a population of 650,000 and Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria, located in the southwest having a population of about 10,287 million. The choice of these cities was based on the fact that they accommodate a population of between 100,000 and more than 1 million people, with a significant proportion having their inter and intral city trips by different means of public vehicles4-6.
3. GLOBAL VIEW OF MOBILITY OF THE ELDERLY
Inability to satisfy ones basic needs on the spot or nearby calls for mobility over space. In actual fact decision to embark on a particular trip can be viewed from the costs, quality and availability of required transport system. A good transport system is however expected to support the livelihood activities of the growing population. Thus transport system and specifically public transportation of various forms plays an important and pervasive role in enhancing independent livability, access to medical and social services and more interestingly contact with the outside world.
Of great importance is the observed ageing population in both industrialized and developing countries that demands for a more responsive means of mobility. Based on this, enhanced mobility of the elderly entails having transport service going where and when one wants to travel, provides information about the services, knowing how to use them, being able to use them and having the means to pay for the service. However, providing more responsive public transportation service and friendly transport environment, is partly a result of the increasing ratio of road accidents involving the elderly all over the world37. They have become a high-risk group within the road environment, with the highest rate of severe injuries and deaths8-11.
Despite this vulnerability frequently witnessed by the elderly, mobility systems currently contributes immensely to various transport externalities - congestion, accidents, pollution and also perpetuate social inequities by offering a very limited range of transport choices to the elderly. Compared with Europe and Japan where public transport remains a vital means of mobility for the elderly, in most developing countries and specifically Nigeria cities, public transport is generally viewed as inadequate to the everyday travel needs of most people512. For instance, exposure of the elderly to transport externalities - pollution in the process of using available modes of mobility is at extremely high levels and is growing worse.
As emphasized by Metz13, mobility in the traditional transport analysis is associated with travel behaviour (people travel to access people and places), and this is expressed in terms of supply and demand. This implies that, the concept of mobility of the elderly needs to be understood beyond the analysis of numbers of journeys. According to Alnih and Hensher14, the ease with which journey destinations can be reached (accessibility) has
increased, while the ease of movement (mobility) has decreased. In other words, high rate of mobility are associated with access, choice, opportunities and freedom. Good accessibility to stations, stops and vehicles for instance is important in lowering resistance to traveling by public transport by the elderly. Surprisingly, this vulnerable group accounts on average for one in four of the public transport passengers. Thus, given the correlation between age and mobility impairment and prospect of an ageing population, catering for the mobility needs of this group becomes an increasingly important challenge for all transport stakeholders. In comparison, the United States appears to be more proactive with regards to issues that affect the elderly15. For instance, the Transportation Research Board identified "an ageing population" as one of fourteen critical issues or challenges facing users or providers of transport services today and in the near future15-17. At this point it is pertinent that public transport service most especially in Sub-Saharan Africa cities needs to be affordable, accessible, available, acceptable and safe for the elderly and other users.
4. EQUITY AND EQUALITY IN PROVISION OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT FOR THE ELDERLY
The alarming increases of the aged have resultant effects on their mobility needs. In European and some Asian countries, the railway systems and ferry services have reached greater heights in the provision of public transport service for all. Whereas, Nigeria railway and ferry system like some other Sub-Saharan Africa countries is woeful due to their deplorable state of operation that yields no good for all users. In the light of this, public transport service in most Sub-Saharan cities is road based and most carrying units are old and poorly designed, inadequately maintained, dangerously overcrowded, unde-pendable and slow. In Nigeria and notably in Lagos, local buses commonly refers to as "danfos" -flying coffins or "molue"- moving morgues are death traps for users that cannot afford the expensive taxi fare.
According to Stahl18, problems associated with elderly in buses can be grouped into four:
(i) Problems associated with journey from home to the bus stops, which include distance from one's residence, slippery pavement, high curbs and unexpected steps, which the elderly cannot cope with.
(ii) Problems related to the bus stop. These are caused by lack of shelter and seats.
(iii) Problems related to exiting or entering the bus, such as the high steps.
(iv) Problems related to the bus journey, such as the difficulties when bus stops are not announced by drivers and the bus departure from stops before persons are safely seated.
He however emphasized the need to consider the above problems when taking decision that affect mobility of this group.
Identification of equity issues in public transportation and most especially for the elderly is germane to sustainable livelihood of the aged. Equity should primarily be examined as the provision of reasonable level of public transport service that is more accessible for transit-dependent populations (elderly). The tradition of equity planning has been centrally concerned with reducing inequalities. Thus, Krumholz19 defined equity planning as an effort to provide more "choices to those.... Residents who have few, if any choices". This implies that the provision of improved public transport services for the elderly will enhance their access to works, shopping, hospitals, and other relevant places and above all bridges the mobility gap that exist between them and other users. For clarification, European cities introduced access features into their public transport system not only to meet the needs of older persons, but because they realize that systems which are user-friendly are preferred by everyone. Public transport system in Europe include tramways, light rail, conventional rail as well as bus and trolley bus services, the wide coverage of public transport services has necessitated the development of initiatives like low-floor buses that enables people with disabilities, older as well as passengers with heavy loads, trolley bags, to get on and off vehicles easily. Also of interest is the provision of public transport system that is responsive to financial limitation of the aged. For example, Altoona Metro Transportation (AMTRAN) in Pennsylvania, CATA in Michingan, Tri- Met in Oregon, Independent Transportation Network (TTN) in Portland, Maine, Sweetwater Transportation Authority (STAR) in Sweet-water country provides special transportation programmes for older citizens.
It's also worth mentioning that many municipalities that offers reduced fares to the elderly, for example, Kosice in Slovakia and Szeged in Hungary, offers a reduced fare to pensioners under 70 years and a free travel to those above 70 years. Similarly, in Daugaupils in Latvia, retired people can use the trams free of charge while it is a general rule to offer reduced prices to the elderly. Stem on these facts and compared with the disgusting state of public transportation service in most cities of Africa and particularly for the aged and handicapped as re-
Table 1 Travel barriers for the elderly and handicapped
(i) PHYSICAL BARRIERS - Vehicles
• High step required to enter
• Seats not available
• Hard to reach handholds
• No place to put packages
• Non-visible signs
• Difficult to get into or out of seats
• Cannot see out for landmarks
• Cannot see or hear location information_
(ii) TERMINALS
• Long stairs
• Long walks
• Poor fare collection facilities
• Poor posting of information
• Poor crowd flow design
• Insufficient seating
• Little interface with other modes_
(iii) TRANSIT STOPS
• Insufficient shelter
• Platform incompatible with vehicle
• Inadequate information_
(iv) OPERATIONAL BARRIERS-Vehicles
• Frequency of service
• Driver assistance/ attitude
• Acceleration / deceleration
• Information presentation
• Schedules maintenance
• Inadequate or inappropriate routes
• Too many transfers TERMINALS
• Employee assistance/ Attitude
• Information clarity and dissemination
• Length of stops too short
• Crowd flow non- directed
• Little or no interface with other modes_
TRANSIT STOPS
• Poor location for safety or convenience
• Not enough stops
• Information displayed insufficient or confusing Source: US Department of Transportation20
vealed in Table 1, there is need to address each component parts that makes up the system. This implies that, a more acceptable, reliable, safe and affordable transit system determines the mobility of the aged.
5. PERCEPTION OF ELDERLY ON PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SERVICES
Of the total number of respondents in the survey, 12% indicated that they have access to private car, while
Table 2 Car ownership
Options Respondents Percentage
Yes 428 12.00
No 3,128 88.00
Total 3,556 100.00
Source: Author's Survey (2005)
Table 3 Elderly use of public transport by gender
Gender Respondents Percentage
Male 2,016 56.69
Female 1,540 43.31
Total 3,556 100.00
88% did not (see Table 2). The description on the use of public transport is based on 3,556 respondents in the four cities sampled during the study. This stem on the fact that ownership of car does not debar the use of public transportation. Gender dimension in the use of public transport is illustrated in Table 3.
The demand for public transportation by the elderly has no distinct gender differences; as there is equal number of older male and female of about 60 years and above using different or available modes of transportation.
Table 4 illustrates the frequency of travel by activities. It is unmistakingly clear that over 90% of the elderly make use of public transport 1-2 times a week for medical and work related trips. The table also shows that lower proportion of the elderly make use of public transport for various activities on daily basis. This is attributed to the fact that, the elderly make shorter trips than the transport privileged counterpart and do more of routine activities that include medication, shopping and visitation than other public transport users. In other words, the elderly make frequent use of taxi, buses than the non-motorized vehicles (motorcycle and auto-rickshaws) and "danfos"-flying coffins or "molue"- moving morgues. The autorichshaw in particular is a tried and tested product that can be traced to Italy. Its introduction to Nigerian cities is to complement the available public transport modes particularly motorcycles. It's usually referred to as "keke Marwa" and "keke NAPEP", and it utilizes a modified vespa engine and has the capacity to convey 3 adult passengers including the driver and some hand luggage.
Meanwhile, the use of auto-richshaw in Nigeria cities is due in part to the irredeemably dirty, crowded and dangerous state of existing public transport; most especially buses and taxis. It is therefore expected that the 3-wheeler will satisfy the mobility needs of the commuters.
Table 4 Travel frequency by activity
Activity 5-6 days a week (%) 3-4 days a week (%) 1-2 times a week (%) 1-2 times a month (%) No response (%)
Medical 4.92 20.98 71.48 1.72 0.90
Visitation 18.95 15.78 50.82 11.69 2.76
Religious 53.91 17.74 27.76 - 0.59
Work 50.68 23.23 21.20 - 4.89
Leisure /sport 3.09 2.02 77.45 0.93 16.51
Banking - - - 80.74 19.26
Shopping - - 83.91 11.59 4.50
Others - - 31.33 65.21 3.46
Surprisingly, the elderly hardly use it, simply because most roads in Nigeria cities (Lagos, Abuja, etc.) do not make provisions for auto-richshaws and non-motorized vehicles in general. This therefore exposes them to accidents in the process of competing for available space with other vehicles. Apart from this, the mode generates more polluting elements (noise and air). Based on these and a host of others, the mode is neither safe nor comfortable for the elderly in the area of study.
The adequacy of public transport can be examined based on the understanding of public transport system that composed of human, environment, mechanical and public policy. Based on this, Table 5 reveals that public transportation services for the elderly in particular is very poor. Using various indices, as high as 90% of the users stated that the affordability and reliability of public transport services is poor. It is observed that this service is not meeting the specific mobility needs or demands of the elderly. Mechanically, the buses, ferry, train coaches where available, motorcycle and so on, do not meet the ergonomic requirements of the elderly. For instance, the height of the steps of buses as well as the adapted motorcycles most especially in Lagos and Abuja make it difficult for them to get on and off the carrying unit. Also worth mentioning is the observed negative behavioral attitude of both the operators of public transport and other users or passengers. The waiting time and access to bus stops is another area of emphasis, more than 75% wait
and walk to and from terminal for between 25 and 30 minutes, while less than 5% spend less than 5 minutes. In Lagos, Abuja and Jos, 67% of the respondents regarded the waiting and walking time and distance as too long to tolerate. Such long waiting and walking time has a resultant effect on the well-being of the elderly. This is a reflection of poor supply of both convectional and para-transit public transport.
In terms of security and other relevant infrastructure, it is worth noting that the sense of security in public transport has clearly deteriorated in recent years, this was justified by 56%of the respondents that viewed the security level in public transport as poor. In actual fact, factors contributing to insecurity of public transport for the elderly are the presence of drunkards, beggars and lunatics in bus stops, absence of lights and shelter coupled with isolated bus stops (see Table 6).
It is interesting to note that significant differences exist in the usage of available public transport modes by the elderly. As revealed in Figure 1, less percentage of the respondents use motorcycles, while above 60% use taxis. This implies that comfortability and safety is pertinent to the mobility of the elderly. Of great importance is the opinion revealed by the elderly that the non-motorized vehicles often expose most of them to different transport externalities. For instance, in the process of making bends at roundabout and junctions, users are usually thrown off the motorcycle.
Table 5 Rating of public transport service
Rating indices Very good (%) Good (%) Average (%) Poor(%) Very poor (%) No response (%)
Accessibility - - 22.98 44.21 30.87 1.94
Affordability - - 6.02 52.73 38.33 2.92
Reliability - - 3.35 35.46 61.08 0.11
Safety - - - 54.02 45.90 0.08
Comfortability - - - 59.28 37.71 3.01
Attitude of operators - - 8.72 44.07 47.02 0.19
Table 6 Rating of terminal facilities
Indicators Very good (%) Good(%) Average (%) Poor(%) Very poor (%) No response (%)
Location - - 13.53 39.57 46.76 0.14
Shelter - - 3.15 48.40 46.03 2.42
Seats - - 0.20 55.79 43.98 0.03
Time table - - - 59.39 39.96 0.65
Toilet - - - 76.32 23.60 0.08
Lights - - 0.28 74.38 20.47 4.87
Security - - - 55.80 44.15 0.05
Accommodation - - - 69.51 27.62 2.87
■ TAXIS ^ □ BUS
■ AUTO-RIC
l\ □ MOTORO f
Fig.1 Modal choice
In terms of barriers encountered, users identified a number of difficulties as revealed in Table 7. For instance, 58.75% of the respondents find if difficult to get on and off available modes. Also of interest is inaccessible location of bus stops, poor supporting infrastructure, high cost of fares in peak periods and unfriendly behaviour of public transport operators.
Finally, it is abundantly clear that more elderly are interested in improved means of mobility. Thus, as high as 92.6% of the respondents demand for special means of mobility and treatment (see Table 8). This implies that the available public transport system in most cities of Nigeria needs to be improved upon.
6. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The significant increase in the population of the aged demands for transportation services that are reliable, available, comfortable, affordable and more flexible to provide a door-to-door services. In this paper, public transport is focused on need to improve or enhanced the mobility of the elderly. Thus, the adequacy of public
Table 7 Problems encounter on and off transit
Problems Frequency %
Difficulty in boarding vehicle 1,107 31.13
Difficulty in alighting 982 27.62
Unfriendly attitude of operators & others 423 11.89
Poor / inaccessible bus stops 215 6.05
Long waiting time 523 14.71
Insecurity 108 3.04
High cot of traveling (fare) 176 4.95
Others 22 0.61
Table 8 Need for special means of mobility and treatment
Problems Frequency %
Yes 3,294 92.63
No 262 7.37
Total 3,556 100
transportation service was primarily examined by the relative transport infrastructure, design of carrying units, involvement in transport externalities - accident, pollution and congestion, time of travel, cost of travel, safety and a host of others. Besides, the need for preferential treatment as well as special means of mobility was reviewed.
The inadequacy of public transportation in the study area has resultant impacts on the mobility of the elderly. As revealed in the paper, travel seems to form important element in the livelihood of the elderly, thus, there have been substantial increases in travel by the elderly for various activities. Also noted in the paper is the need for equity and equality concerns in public transportation; until this becomes a feature of all transportation stakeholders, it is unlikely that the problems faced by the elderly in the process of traveling will be understood and effectively addressed. More fundamentally, concerns
over safety are pertinent as older people are more fragile and vulnerable to vast number of transport externalities.
In order to enhance the mobility of the elderly, this paper examined measures of reducing or eliminating difficulties faced by this group. First, physical accessibility entails the use of low-floor vehicles, ramps for boarding, change of operators' attitudes towards the elderly. Secondly, terminal location and improvement of available infrastructure - shelter, seats and so on. Thirdly, the financial relieve through subsidies as observed in various advanced countries. The need for adequate information regarding transit services forms the final measure. In actual fact, a sustainable solution to the difficulties faced by this group must target several key areas including vehicle design, terminal improvement, environmental friendliness and improved government policy. Thus, the paper emphasized the need not to live or isolate the elderly to continue facing difficulties from the inadequate public transport service operation in our society.
REFERENCES
1. World Bank. Annual Report. World Bank Washington. (2002).
2. Coyle, J.J., Bardi, J. and Cavinato, J.L. Transportation. West Publishing, St Paul. (1990).
3. Rodrique, J.P. Transport Geography on the web. Hofstra University. http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans. (2004).
4. Ogunsanya, A. and Galtima, M. Motorcycle in public passenger transport service in Nigeria. A case of Yola Town. In Ikya, S. G (Ed). Urban passenger transportation in Nigeria. Heinemann. Ibadan. (1993).
5. Adeniji, K. Para-transit modes in Nigeria: problems and prospects. Cities: The international quarterly on urban policy 4 (4). (1987).
6. Oyesiku, O.K. and Odufuwa, B.O. Gender perspectives in travel behaviour of motorcycle passengers in Nigeria intermediate cities. In Xavier, G and Innocent (Urban Mobility for All). Balkema, Netherlands. (2002).
7. World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The Sustainable Mobility Project. England. www. sustainablemobility.org. (2002).
8. OECD. Ageing and transport: Mobility needs and safety issues. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2001).
9. FHMA. Guidelines and recommendations to accommodate older drivers and pedestrians. US Federal Highway Administration. (2001).
10. European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT). Transport and Ageing of the Population. Conference paper, European Conference of Ministers of Transport www.oecd. org/cem/ (2002).
11. Hakamies-Blomqvist, L. Ageing Europe: the challenges and opportunities for transport safety. European Transport Safety Council. http://www.etsc.be/eve. (2003).
12. Oyesiku, O.K. The motorcycle public transport phenomenon:
The challenges of contemporary road safety practices in Africa. Conference paper for 3rd international conference for road safety. Abuja. (2002).
13. Metz, D.H. Mobility of older people and their quality of life. "Transport Policy" 7: pp.149- 152. (2000).
14. Alsnih, A and Hensher, D.A. The mobility and accessibility expectations of seniors in an aging population. Transportation Research, Part A, 37. (2003).
15. Scott, D.M., Newbold, K.B, Spinney, J.E., Mercado, R.G., Paez, A. and Kanaroglou, P.S. Changing Mobility of Elderly Urban Canadians, 1992-1998. CSPA. Canada. (2005).
16. Pisarski, A.E. Prescriptions for research: reviewing the history of TRB'S critical issues in transportation. TR News 226. pp30-35. (2003).
17. Transportation Research Board (TRB). Critical issues in Transportation Research News 217. pp.3-11. (2001).
18. Stahl, A. Public Transport for the elderly in Sweden: Technical and Behavioural Issues in Third International Conference on Mobility and Transport of Elderly and Handicapped Persons. Washington DC. Us Department of Transportation Final Report. (1984).
19. Krumholz, N.A. Retrospective View of Equity Planning: Cleveland 1969-1979. "Journal of the American Planning Association" 48(2): pp.163-174. (1982).
20. US Department of Transportation. The handicapped and elderly market for urban mass transit. Transportation systems centre. Cambridge. (1973).
