Browsing by Department "Centre for Transport Studies"

Now showing 1 - 13 of 13
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    A GIS based planning support system for inclusionary housing profitability optimisation in Cape Town, South Africa
    (2018) Krause, Philip; Behrens, Roger; Zuidgeest, Mark
    Apartheid era legislation, along with automobile-oriented city planning practices, have left legacies of race/class-linked spatial inequality, and unsustainable land-use transport inter-relationships in post-Apartheid South African cities. Most poor urban communities still live in peripheral settlements, which are far from employment, education, and social opportunities. Consequently, these communities are reliant on public transit services which are inadequate and often unsafe. Despite substantial democratic era public transit investment, this automobile-oriented spatial legacy, rapid urbanisation and a growing middle class have contributed to increased automobile ownership and severe traffic congestion. This, along with inner-city and surrounding precinct regeneration programmes, guided by neo-liberal market-friendly agendas, have contributed towards gentrification and consequent displacement of poorer communities from the few remaining central, but previously affordable, precincts. Intervention is required to halt this trend, and to enable poorer communities’ return to central urban neighbourhoods. Inclusionary housing in private sector housing developments could be one such intervention. Since 2007, national and municipal authorities have devoted resources to developing inclusionary housing policies; over a decade later, none have progressed beyond draft state. A core challenge has been establishing mechanisms that ensure sufficient flexibility to accommodate widely differing market conditions between precincts. Decisions by local authorities/private property developers to grant concessions/pursue projects are influenced by constraining factors applicable to the particular land parcels considered. The ease and rigour of such decision-making at both a policy and implementation level could arguably be enhanced by a GIS (geographic information system) based PSS (planning support system), that is capable of analysing spatial and non-spatial factors on multiple land parcels. This could enable a comparison of the impact that concessions (in exchange for inclusion of affordable units) may have on the financial viability of projects. The research objective of this dissertation was to establish the technical feasibility of developing such a GIS-based inclusionary housing profitability assessment PSS, capable of utilising existing GIS data (maintained by City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality), and which is capable of aiding local authorities and property developers, and ultimately, low-income communities. In conducting this research, a system intending to meet this objective was developed. Through engagement with stakeholders, five case study sites were identified. These were analysed using the system, allowing assessment of their suitability for inclusionary housing, while also allowing for the performance of the system itself to be evaluated. Case study findings suggest that moderately wealthy neighbourhoods are best suited to inclusionary housing projects, as the impact of cross-subsidisation appeared strongest. Project viability was found to be highly sensitive to market conditions, highlighting the importance of using accurate and up-to-date market data. Ultimately, it was concluded that stakeholders see value in the development of a GIS based inclusionary housing PSS, but for the system to truly meet its objective of aiding inclusionary housing policy development and implementation decisions, additional functionality would be required.
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    'Boda boda' bicycle taxis and their role in urban transport systems : case studies of Nakuru and Kisumu, Kenya
    (2010) Mutiso, Wilson Kasyoki; Behrens, Roger
    The bicycle taxi has a padded cushion fitted onto a reinforced rear seat; typically removed when transporting goods. The research aimed, firstly, to understand the operating characteristics of, and challenges facing, ‘boda boda’ services, and secondly, to explore the measures that might be formulated by the concerned authorities to manage and support them. With regard to the latter aim, given the growth in motorcycle taxis at the expense of bicycle taxis elsewhere in the region, the research sought to make a recommendation on whether authorities should embrace or resist this trend.
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    CfTS workshop: Technology and systems innovation, public transport and the minibus-taxi industry
    (2017-08-30) Schalekamp, Herrie
    Introductory presentation to workshop hosted by CfTS on technology and systems innovation in the public transport sector
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    CfTS-TDA embedded PhD research initiative
    (2017-09-14) Behrens, Roger
    The embedded doctoral researcher initiative is a collaboration between the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Transport Studies (CfTS) and City of Cape Town’s Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA). The research conducted by two successful PhD scholarship applicants will be of mutual interest to TDA and the CfTS, where the outputs of this research are useful to the TDA in developing and implementing improvements to Cape Town’s public transport system, while at the same time enable the candidate to meet the scholarly requirements of a doctoral degree.
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    Empirical Estimation of a Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) for the City of Cape Town Freeway Network
    (2020) Rammutla, John Koketso; Zuidgeest, Marcus
    The City of Cape Town is the most congested city in South Africa, with Johannesburg coming in second. Capetonians are spending 75% more time in traffic because of the congestion during peak hours, thus reducing time spent on leisure and other activities. Due to population growth, increasing car ownership and declining capacity of rail infrastructure, Cape Town's road infrastructure will continue to be under severe pressure if the status quo is maintained. Research shows that congestion levels in urban areas are key factors in determining the effectiveness and productivity of the transport system. Traffic congestion poses a threat to the economy and the environment. Increasing corridors' capacity by increasing the number of lanes does not necessarily solve the problem. Effective urban traffic management and efficient utilization of existing infrastructure are critical in creating sustainable solutions to congestion problems. To achieve this, it is important that appropriate urban-scale models and monitoring strategies are put in place. Effective traffic management and monitoring strategies require accurate characterization of the traffic state of an urban-scale network. Several approaches, including kinetic wave theory and cell transmission models or macroscopic traffic simulation models, have been proposed and developed to describe the traffic state of an urban-scale network. However, these approaches are limited and require significant amounts of computational time and effort. The application of macroscopic fundamental diagram (herein referred to as MFD) to characterize the state of an urban-scale network has thus far proven to be more effective than other approaches. MFD represents the state of urban traffic by defining the traffic throughput of an area at given traffic densities. It describes the characteristics and dynamics of urban-scale traffic conditions, allowing for improved and sustainable urban scale traffic management and monitoring strategies. Against this backdrop, the existence of MFD for the City of Cape Town (CoCT) urbanscale network is yet to be established and the implications yet to be understood, as in other parts of the world. The main aim of this research was, therefore, to empirically estimate the macroscopic fundamental diagram for the CoCT's freeway network and analyse its observed features. To achieve this, observed data of 5 minutes periods for the month of May 2019 was used to estimate the MFD. The results confirmed that when the chaotic scatter-plots of flow and density from individual fixed loop detectors were aggregated the scatter nearly disappeared and points grouped neatly to form a clearly defined free-flow state, critical state and the formation of hysteresis loops past the critical density corresponding with the network observed maximum flow. Further analysis of the MFDs showed that a single hysteresis loop always forms past the critical density during the evening peak in a weekday MFD. However, it was inconclusive during the morning peak period in weekday MFDs. Lastly, an explicit hysteresis loop seldom appears in a Saturday MFD when the peak of traffic demand is lower than on weekdays. In order to understand the dynamics of the congestion spread, the freeway network was partitioned into penetrating highways network and the ring highway network. The results showed that the maximum flows observed for the two sub-networks were significantly different (943 veh/hr/lane for the penetrating highways network and 1539 veh/hr/lane for the ring highway network). The penetrating highways network's MFD indicated the presence of congestion in the network whereas the ring highway network indicated only the free-flow state (no indication of congestion) during peak periods. The congestion seen on the penetrating highways network was found not to be sufficiently spread on those highways. On the 24th May, congestion on the penetrating highway network was observed during both the morning and evening peak periods, whereas on the 31st May congestion was observed mainly during the evening peak period, with hysteresis-like shape. These observations confirmed that congestion during peak periods is not homogenously spread across the entire network, certain areas are more congested than others, hence the observed formation of hysteresis loops and slight scatters. Lastly, the hysteresis loops observed in the penetrating highways network's MFD was further characterized in terms of their shape and size. First, the results showed that the slight scatter and hysteresis patterns observed in penetrating highways network MFD's vary in size and shape across different days. The shapes of the hysteresis loops observed during both the morning and evening peak periods, were type H2 hysteresis loops, signifying a stable recovery of the network with the average network flow remaining unchanged as average network density decreases during the recovery. Characterization of the size of the observed hysteresis loops showed that the drop of the hysteresis (an indicator of network level of instability during recovery phase) was smaller, signifying a more stable network traffic and homogenous distribution of congestion during the recovery phase.
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    Geographical Modelling of Transit Deserts in Cape Town
    (2021-01-19) Vanderschuren, Marianne; Cameron, Robert; Newlands, Alexandra; Schalekamp, Herrie
    The World Bank calculated South Africa’s 2018 Gini Coefficient to be 0.63, which made it the world’s most unequal country. Such inequality is perpetuated by land-use patterns still influenced by the apartheid past. The resulting urban form necessitates long travel distances, often relying on fragmented transit modes, each with their own geographical and temporal constraints. This study applies work on transit deserts in cities in the global north to Cape Town, aiming to assess the methodological transferability to the global south, and generating case study results. In the Cape Town case, the study first analyses transit deserts based on formal public transport supply (bus rapid transit, traditional bus and train), identifying that ten out of 18 traffic analysis zones were classified as transit gaps (some unserved demand), while three of these zones qualified as transit deserts (significant undersupply). Like its U.S. counterparts, excess supply is found near Cape Town’s city centre. In Cape Town, the transit gaps/deserts are partly filled by unscheduled minibus-taxis. When this informal public transport service is added, the transit deserts disappear; however, half of the transport analysis zones still qualify as having transit gaps. It is, therefore, concluded that informal public transit in Cape Town reduces the transit gap, but does not eliminate it.
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    Informal and shared mobility: A bibliometric analysis and researcher network mapping
    (Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, 2021-11-30) Behrens, Roger; Newlands, Alexandra; Suliaman, Tamzyn; Gebregziabher, Awot; Steele, Dianne
    This study was commissioned by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations to inform the content of the next phase of its Future Urban Transport programme. The aim of the study was to define the subject field (provisionally described by VREF as ‘informal public transport’ and ‘shared mobility’), analyse its bibliometric attributes. The study method involved an analysis of the nomenclature and focus of seminal or consolidating in-field literature to delineate the scope of the study, a systematic search of multiple platforms for in-field English language publications between 2010 and the present, the creation and augmentation of a database for bibliometric analysis, and a survey of leading researchers across eight global regions. The subject field was divided into four main categories of passenger services (flexible transport, informal transport, shared mobility and for-hire transport), which sit between purely private transport and scheduled mass public transport, and can be found in various guises across the Global North and Global South. The timeline of innovation in the field reveals complex and multi-directional global diffusion of service innovations, triggered by changed operating environments and technology disruption. It was found that research in this field is growing fast (doubling every four years). The recent literature is dominated by authors affiliated to universities in Europe, Eastern Asia and Northern America at a regional scale, and to universities in China and the United States at a country scale. Shared mobility (and bike-sharing, car-sharing and ride hailing in particular) has received most attention (62%), followed by for-hire transport (17%), informal transport (11%), and flexible transport (10%). Most publications concerning shared mobility and for-hire transport were produced by lead authors in China (19,3% and 44,1%), followed by the United States (15,0% and 9,9%). Most publications concerning informal transport were produced in South Africa (18,2%) followed by India (9,8%), and concerning flexible transport were produced in the United States (13,1%) followed by Australia (9,6%). There has been extensive international research collaboration, with collaboration between research institutions in China and the United States found to be particularly strong, as was collaboration between China and other East Asian countries. Somewhat paradoxically, while the quantity of collaborations with universities in Africa, Latin America, and Western Asia was relatively small, authors from many countries within these regions are most likely to publish through international collaboration. Citation networks between institutions followed a similar pattern to collaboration networks. Geographical gaps in the literature were found, with heatmaps revealing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, that received no dedicated research attention. While difficult to quantify, there were also indications of thematic gaps in the literature, or at least disparity between the prevalence of a service type and the number of publications about it. Most notably, compared to their global prevalence, bike-sharing, car-sharing and carpooling were well researched, compared to informal for-hire transport and informal public transport, which received significantly less attention. Given the multi-directional innovation diffusion in the subject field, and the disparity of research capacity and output across regions, it is a field of inquiry that presents rich possibilities for global research collaboration in the next phase of the FUT programme. The survey of leading researchers suggested that: integrating with mass public transport services; serving the needs of vulnerable passengers; regulating service providers; introducing electric vehicles into shared mobility and informal transport fleets; and digitalising aspects of informal transport operations; are priority future research needs.
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    Investigation of the road safety measures around schools in Ethekwini
    (2018) Mhlanga, Mabuyi; Behrens, Roger
    Globally, road traffic injury is a leading cause of death and disability in children aged 15 to 19 and the second leading cause of death in children between the ages 10 to 14 years. This thesis reviewed literature regarding the extent of road traffic injuries involving child pedestrians, the risk factors for child pedestrians and the effectiveness of interventions aimed at road safety improvement. EThekwini Metro was used as a case study for investigating the magnitude of road traffic crashes involving child pedestrians around primary schools. The schools with the highest road traffic crashes were used to investigate the road and environment contributory factors to crashes and finally the interventions in place at these schools to reduce road traffic injuries. The magnitude of crashes was quantified by using road accident data obtained from eThekwini Metro and the investigation of the interventions applied at the schools was conducted using Google Earth imagery, onsite inspections and administering a questionnaire to educators at the schools chosen for the case study. Results suggest that, in eThekwini, 32% of pedestrian crashes involve children from 0 to 19 years. The 6 to 10 year age group has the highest risk of road traffic injury and boys are 20% more likely to be involved in a crash compared to girls. The top ten primary schools with the highest road traffic crashes are located in middle and low income areas in eThekwini, these are, Sydenham, Jacobs and Umlazi Township. Most crashes took place where three or more schools are located within a kilometre radius of each other. Child behaviour contributed to 77% of the road traffic crashes. Scholar transport driver behaviour was highlighted as a major contributor to crashes by the respondents and environmental factors that resulted in reduced visibility of the child pedestrian contributed to 6% of the crashes. The main cause of road traffic injury, 68%, was crossing the road when it was unsafe to do so. Most crashes took place away from the intersection (58%), under clear and dry weather conditions (95%) during daylight (87%), between 13h00 to 15h30 (41%). Mondays and Fridays had highest incidents of road traffic crashes compared to other days of the week. Forty five percent (45%) of crashes took place on Class 5 local roads but all top ten schools with the highest road traffic crashes are located within a kilometre of a Class 3 distributor road or a class 4 collector road and these higher order roads have the highest crashes per road associated with the primary schools in their vicinity. Traffic calming, in the form of speed humps are only provided on roads where school entrances are located and are not provided on other roads even the roads with the highest road traffic crashes. Pedestrian crossings that direct pedestrians to a safe crossing location, road signs and road markings that warn drivers about the school are also generally not provided. The study revealed that road safety education is not formally provided in the school’s curriculum, it is taught as part of the Life Skills subject. The content and type of training is decided upon by the Life Skills teachers. Practical training is only provided at two of the schools, in all other schools, road safety education is taught and tested in a classroom environment. The author recommends that further studies be conducted on child pedestrian road safety around schools to obtain a full understanding of the road and environmental risk factors, that the municipality adopts the school zone concept and develops a policy for road safety interventions within the school zones. The municipality must also constantly monitor road traffic crashes involving child pedestrians, collect necessary data and test the effectiveness of measures applied to reduce the risks for child pedestrian crashes, investigate the possibility of providing grade separated pedestrian crossing facilities on higher order roads within a kilometre radius of the schools, initiate a scholar transport driver training programme and to assist the schools in the provision of road safety education by providing facilities where practical road safety training can be taught.
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    Lessons from building paratransit operators’ capacity to be partners in Cape Town’s public transport reform process
    (Elsevier, 2017-08-02) Schalekamp, Herrie
    In 2013 the Cape Town municipality initiated planning for the second phase of its MyCiTi bus system. The first phase, on which preparations commenced in 2007, relied on incorporating existing road-based operators in a bus rapid transit (BRT) system. The municipality under-estimated the cost and level of effort involved in the wholesale corporatisation of paratransit operators while concurrently equipping them to become BRT operators. Learning from this experience, it developed a more incremental transition approach in the second phase, the first fruit of which was a pilot express bus service launched in mid-2014. The pilot service contract also provided for a training programme for paratransit operators in the affected parts of the city to build their managerial and technical capacity. It was envisaged that programme participants would ultimately manage and run the long-term operating companies and contracts that would be established by the end of the three-year interim period. This article provides a critical review of the programme’s context, content and participant experiences after the conclusion of its first year. In broad terms the programme has made a positive contribution to paratransit participants’ understanding of the shortcomings of their current operations and why reform might be necessary, but much still remains to be done to enable them to fill their envisaged roles in future public transport operations. In view of growing interest in BRT installation in Sub-Saharan Africa lessons from Cape Town’s reform process offer both cautionary evidence and a potential mechanism for drawing existing operators in as partners in reform.
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    Mapping and mobilization for public transport advocacy in African cities
    (2017-08-30) Klopp, Jacqueline
    Quick overview of why paratransit mapping/data collection matters Example of mapping effort (Digital Matatus in Nairobi) Brief look at the spread of mapping in African cities and implications Challenges/opportunities moving forward
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    Measuring and analysing the impacts of travel demand management interventions on commuter travel behaviour : the case of rail-based park-and-ride facilities in Cape Town
    (2011) Van Rensburg, Johann; Behrens, Roger
    This dissertation reports upon the findings of a study undertaken in Cape Town to measure the impacts of park-and-ride facility upgrades on commuting behaviour at selected rail stations. The study analysed data from two sources covering the period before and after park-andride facility upgrades at three affected rail stations (Brackenfell, Kraaifontein and Kuilsrivier) and three control stations. The purpose of including the control group was to assist in assessing whether any utilisation changes observed across the before and after periods were the result of external factors.
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    Modelling freeway pedestrian crossing behaviour in Cape Town
    (2018) Dada, Mercy; Zuidgeest, Mark
    South Africa’s Freeway Management System (FMS) in Cape Town has recorded an alarming increase in pedestrian activity on its freeways in recent years, with a similar trend in (fatal) freeway pedestrian crashes. Both South African and international studies have demonstrated the relevant factors that account for the choices of pedestrians to cross roadways, while few studies have looked at freeway crossing. This study was undertaken to identify and estimate the factors that influence illegal freeway crossing using a discrete choice experiment in Cape Town. It is hypothesized that freeway pedestrian crossing is driven by personal factors and the perceived contribution thereof to the risks associated with the crossing using a footbridge or (illegally) at-grade. Using a stated choice survey including a perceived crossing risk assessment to estimate a series of choice models and based on a 300 participants survey, intercepted along three Cape Town freeways, ordered-responses logit models were developed to estimate risk perception thresholds for both general risk perception (prior to the choice experiment) as well as choice – task specific risk perception. Furthermore, basic and mixed logit models were estimated for freeway crossing choice. Correlations between risk perception and the crossing choices using a Cholesky transformation matrix were established. Finally, the implied relative sensitivities, or tradeoffs, between at-grade and footbridge crossing alternatives were estimated. The findings of this study confirm that, as expected, crossing choice is largely influenced by a combination of built environment, vehicular and pedestrian traffic, as well as socio-demographic characteristics. Among the 8 selected factors, traffic, walking distance and law enforcement presence were observed to be most vital in influencing the risk perception of pedestrians. Results show that younger pedestrians were more risk seeking than their older counterparts and that tenure - the length of time that a pedestrian has lived in Cape Town reduces the risk perception levels of traffic safety. Moreover, pedestrians were more likely to cross with the footbridge rather than directly under normal circumstances. As pedestrian safety is a part of policy interventions in transport, this thesis also suggests an approach to solve the problem of illegal freeway crossing. The results of this study can inform opportunities to counter the upward trend of fatalities and provide suggestions for policy-making, interventions and campaigns that would lead to improved freeway crossing safety.
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    Towards a user-oriented approach in the design and planning of public transport interchanges
    (2007) Schalekamp, Hertzog Venter; Behrens, Roger
    Public transport provision in South Africa is set to change dramatically in the coming years if the plans and strategies of Government come to fruition. Policy clearly states that the needs of the end user of public transport services and facilities have to be prioritised, and that transport systems will be overhauled to provide a range of integrated trunk and feeder services, in emulation of the successes achieved in the so-called public transport 'model cities' of South America. However, it is not certain whether the range of public and private institutions involved in the planning, implementation and operations of public transport at the local level are ready to respond effectively to the policy requirements. Institutional fragmentation is the order of the day, public transport services are largely peak-time, commuter based services, and the minibus taxi industry remains effectively unregulated. The experience of public transport users, if measured by the efficiency of transferring between services at public transport interchange facilities, is of a very poor quality, and the design and planning guidelines for these facilities do not offer much insight into how this situation can be rectified. This dissertation provides two insights in view of the current challenging public transport reality. Firstly, it investigates the link between institutional integration, and whether such integration has an effect on the experience of public transport users at interchanges. Secondly, it critically analyses the existing design and planning guidelines for public transport interchanges to explain why these documents do not seem to lead to improved physical integration between transport services, and ultimately an improved experience for the person wishing to transfer between those services. These links are tested by developing a framework that assesses the obstacles that reduce the efficiency of user transfers between services at interchanges, and it applies this framework at interchange sites in Cape Town in South Africa, and Curitiba and Sao Paulo in Brazil. The findings, when compared between sites and cities, lead to the formulation of recommendations regarding the expectations surrounding institutional integration and the provision of more effective design and planning guidelines for public transport facilities.