Browsing by Author "Baufeldt, Jennifer"

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    Investigation into the effects of non-motorised transport facility implementations and upgrades in urban South Africa
    (2016) Baufeldt, Jennifer; Vanderschuren, Marianne
    Non-motorised Transport (NMT), as a mode of transport, is beneficial and sustainable for both developing and developed countries. In urban areas of South Africa, NMT users face various challenges that reduce the attractiveness of selecting NMT trips. Two main concerns are the high risk of injury (or death) and the inadequate provision of NMT facilities, making NMT trips inefficient and dangerous. One strategy of addressing these two challenges is implementing NMT facilities that provide safe, convenient and comfortable routes for NMT users. By improving the quality of NMT facilities and increasing the number of NMT facilities available to NMT users, the quality of service that NMT users experience will increase, while at the same time reducing the levels of concerns regarding safety of NMT trips. These changes should result in fewer NMT fatalities and injuries, and consequently, increase the number and quality of NMT trips. While research in other countries has shown that NMT facilities do indeed have these impacts on NMT trips and NMT fatalities and injuries, limited or no research has been conducted to shows that NMT facilities have similar effects in the urban areas of South Africa. This research, therefore, aims to fill this gap in the literature, by investigating the effects that NMT facilities and implementations have in case study areas in urban South Africa. To investigate the impact that NMT facilities have, in urban areas of South Africa, various investigations and case study infrastructure assessments were carried out. A mixed-methods multi-case study research approach was adopted, in order to combine all the various investigations within one research approach. After identifying the NMT facility implementations that had been implemented, a number of case study and control areas were defined. Data regarding the NMT fatalities and injuries in these areas was then identified and used to calculate the trends within the case study areas and the control areas. Additionally, data from the National Household Travel Surveys (NHTS, 2003 and 2013) helped to determine the changes in the number of NMT trips on a provincial level, as well as within the case study and control areas within Cape Town. The last part of the research, used the information, of where the NMT facility implementations took place, alongside infrastructure assessments to determine whether the quality of the NMT facilities had been improved or not. The findings of all the investigations and assessments were then discussed in a SWOT analysis, which could be used in future decisions regarding the implementations of NMT facilities. Results of the investigations carried out in this research indicate that NMT facilities do have significant impacts on improving the levels of safety for both pedestrians and cyclists in urban South African settlements. Furthermore, the results of the investigations and assessments show that the quality of service for NMT users will also increase through improvements to the NMT facilities.
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    Investigation of ride-share service decisions with uncertainty and perceived risks: Case study of young adults in Cape Town, South Africa
    (2025) Baufeldt, Jennifer; Vanderschuren, Marianne
    Ride-share services could help young adults avoid or delay car ownership by meeting the individuals' immediate demand for personalised private vehicle transportation. However, little is known about how young adults in South Africa, and specifically Cape Town, decide on rideshare service trips involving uncertainty and perceived risks (trips ‘at night', ‘alone' and ‘alone at night'). Using the Quantum Probability Theory concepts of Belief State and incompatibility, this research aims to better understand the influences of Gender (female, male), Access to a Private Vehicle (access, no access) and COVID-19 (‘before', ‘during', ‘after') in ride-share service decisions that involve personal security uncertainty and perceived risks in Cape Town. Evidence for incompatibility in decisions is explored using pre-questions of related Transport Factors (Sustainable Transport, Reliability, Road Safety, Crime). Additionally, positive framing questions, potentially affecting the Belief States, are tested using unrelated pre-questions, namely the Good Mood Questions. These investigations are explored through four experiments, via online surveys using Google Forms, distributed to the university community. The differences in willingness to engage in ride-share service trips ‘at night', ‘alone' and ‘alone at night' are most pronounced for Gender, however, differences per Access to a Private Vehicle and COVID-19 were also significant. Furthermore, ‘after COVID-19' indicated a significant drop in willingness to use ride-share services for these trips. The strongest evidence of incompatibility was found in females indicating impactful levels of uncertainty and perceived risks in their ride-share service decisions of ‘at night', ‘alone', and ‘alone at night'. However, limited evidence of positive framing effects was found using the Good Mood Questions for both females and males in the COVID-19 scenarios. Overall, the implications of these findings for ride-share service providers are that there is a need for more measures to improve personal security for females when taking trips ‘at night' or ‘alone at night'. While this research is limited by the scarcity of data from ride-share service companies, future research can expand on these findings by including more diverse population groups, especially lower-income groups, for more representative knowledge of the larger Cape Town population.