Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Box 34.2
Harare: new initiatives in public passenger transport
The urban structure of Harare still retains a rigid division
between low-density European housing areas and the
high-density residential townships provided for the
African population. The bulk of car travel in the city,
accounting for about 14 per cent of all passenger trips, is
carried out by white residents, with the low-income
African workers relying upon either the bus or various
forms of paratransit or walking for access to the industrial
zones, the city centre or the suburbs, where many are
employed as domestic staff (Armstrong-White 1993).
Most of the African housing areas are on the western
and southwestern periphery of the city, but over 280,000
also live in the town of Chitungwiza, 20 km to the south
of the capital (Rakodi 1995).
Scheduled city bus services provided by the
Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) have
been improved with the purchase of new vehicles and an
increase in bus productivity and now account for 20 per
cent of all trips. However, protracted delays during
journey-to-work periods are still frequent, and the
'emergency taxi' is an essential alternative. These
vehicles operate at government-controlled fares on
prescribed routes between the suburbs and the city
centre and account for 10 per cent of all trips.
In 1993 the public transport system was diversified with
the introduction of 'commuter omnibuses', a private initiative
sanctioned by the state as part of its economic structural
adjustment programme. Most of these minibuses link low-
income housing areas with the centre, and it was estimated
in 1994 that commuter omnibus services, during their first
three years of operation, had expanded to account for 16
per cent of all trips. The 'emergency taxis' have lost custom
as a result and have concentrated upon shorter journeys
(Maunder and Mbara1995).
Various proposals for busways and a light rapid transit
system for Harare have been made, but existing passenger
flows are insufficient to justify the necessary investments,
and low-income urban workers could not afford the travel
costs. The Chitungwiza-Harare corridor, with its heavy
commuter traffic, would appear to be a suitable candidate
for a rail-based facility, but any available funds are better
devoted to improvements of the ZUPCO bus services.
on multi-lane highways and electronic
coordination of light-controlled intersections
within inner urban areas. Traffic management can
also aim to alter modal choice by introducing
strategies for car restraint in combination with
measures to improve bus circulation. Vehicle
restraint involves filtering schemes that permit
only fully loaded cars into inner cities or a
progressive increase in car-parking charges as the
core is approached. Car drivers can also be
discouraged from using inner urban roads by the
imposition of tolls or special licences payable
according to the length of time spent in city
centres.
Buses can gain an advantage over cars by using
bus-only lanes on major access roads, priority
turns at intersections and by having exclusive
rights in selected city centre streets.
Box 34.3
Singapore: achieving a compromise between public and private urban travel
Urban transport planners in this densely populated city-
state of 3 million people face the major problem of
providing for heavy volumes of commuters from the city
and its satellite towns into a highly congested central
business district. The current policy is based upon
investment in high-capacity public rail and bus services,
coupled with the restraint of private car travel within the
inner city. Most of the population is now within five
minutes access of a comprehensive bus network, with
over 250 routes operated by one major and a group of
smaller companies, which also provide contract services
for employees and schools. Feeder and trunk routes,
together with bus priority lanes in the inner city, ensure
the most efficient use of the buses, and 80 per cent of
services have intervals of ten minutes or less. Increasing
demands for peak hour travel are met by the mass rapid
transit network, the first two routes of which were opened
between 1987 and 1992. Feeder bus services focus upon
many of the stations, and extensions are planned so that
by 2000 ridership could exceed 950,000 and the system
could cater for 33 per cent of all public transport journeys
(Turton and Knowles 1998).
Singapore pioneered fiscal measures of car restraint
in urban centres with its Area Licensing Scheme,
introduced in 1975. A restricted zone of the city centre
can be entered at peak periods only by vehicles with a
supplementary licence, but an electronic pricing scheme
is now being introduced. This demand management
initiative has reduced car traffic in the city by 20 per cent
since 1975, although the city labour force has risen by
one-third, and the average vehicle speed of 26 kph in
peak periods is higher than those in London, New York
and Hong Kong. In addition to car usage restraint, a
vehicle quota system was introduced in 1990 in order to
restrict car ownership levels, and both measures are
seen by the government as part of the overall strategy
for encouraging a greater use of the upgraded public
transport facilities.
