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COVID-19 and the Motorcycle Taxi Sector in Sub-Saharan African Cities: A Key Stakeholders’ Perspective
,
Jack Jenkins ,
Simon Ntramah,
James Vincent,
Patrick Hayombe,
Fredrick Owino,
Paul Opiyo ,
Ted Johnson ,
Rosemarie Santos,
Marion Mugisha,
Reginald Chetto
Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, Volume: 2677, Issue: 4, Pages: 751 - 764
Swansea University Author:
Krijn Peters
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DOI (Published version): 10.1177/03611981221131538
Abstract
This article assesses the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the urban motorcycle taxi (MCT) sector in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). MCT operators in SSA provide essential transport services and have shown ingenuity and an ability to adapt and innovate when responding to different challenges, including...
| Published in: | Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board |
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| ISSN: | 0361-1981 2169-4052 |
| Published: |
SAGE Publications
2023
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa63739 |
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| Abstract: |
This article assesses the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the urban motorcycle taxi (MCT) sector in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). MCT operators in SSA provide essential transport services and have shown ingenuity and an ability to adapt and innovate when responding to different challenges, including health challenges. However, policymakers and regulators often remain somewhat hostile toward the sector. The article discusses the measures and restrictions put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and key stakeholders’ perspectives on these and on the sector’s level of compliance. Primary data were collected in six SSA countries during the last quarter of 2020. Between 10 and 15 qualitative interviews with key stakeholders relevant to the urban MCT sector were conducted in each country. These interviews were conducted with stakeholders based in the capital city and a secondary city, to ensure a geographically broader understanding of the measures, restrictions, and perspectives. The impact of COVID-19 measures on the MCT and motor-tricycle taxi sector was significant and overwhelmingly negative. Lockdowns, restrictions on the maximum number of passengers allowed to be carried at once, and more generally, a COVID-19-induced reduction in demand, resulted in a drop in income for operators, according to the key stakeholders. However, some key stakeholders indicated an increase in MCT activity and income because of the motorcycles’ ability to bypass police and army controls. In most study countries measures were formulated in a non-consultative manner. This, we argue, is symptomatic of governments’ unwillingness to seriously engage with the sector. |
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| Keywords: |
Motorcycle taxis, COVID-19, Sub-Saharan Africa, informal economy, transportation and society, transportation in developing countries, travel behavior. |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Funders: |
1. UKAID through the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office under the High Volume Transport Applied Research Programme, managed by IMC Worldwide. 2. Swansea University. |
| Issue: |
4 |
| Start Page: |
751 |
| End Page: |
764 |