RURAL TRANSPORT

Rural road transport: Africa  Personal motorised transport widespread in Asia; rare in Africa  African countries have to rely on inappropriate vehicles for rural roads; Asia has many ingenious adaptations to lcoal transport needs  Africa: goods and passenger transport by pickups or medium trucks, often imported when already decrepit  Large trucks are dangerous, unreliable, and hard on rural roads, also not always suited to small loads and dispersed clientele  Buses and cars cannot be operated economically on low-volume roads:  Transport regulation impossible as services are only profitable when service quality, including safety in minimal: in any case enforcement means usually harassment.  No obvious solution: cost of service by vehicles meeting typical safety and condition regulations would be greater than the capacity to pay;

Rural transport: Asia  Much more use of small IMT, adapted from motorcycles, or built locally using parts from scrapped vehicles;  Small loads, low capital cost, using simple diesel engines, or electric motors in cities, well adapted to moving people and goods over short distances on bad roads;  Great for Africa, but could they compete with cheap imported secondhand trucks and the knowledge base that keeps them running?

Rural transport: conclusions  Roads exist to be used: benefits maximised by promoting development and use of vehicles suitable for transport needs and simple roads  Local innovation in means of transport should be encouraged: it promotes mobility and develops local enterprises to make and maintain them  At least, policies that hinder it should be changed  Reliance on old conventional vehicles not sustainable: use of IMT should be promoted

References: rural road transport  Introduction to IMT Introduction to IMT  Rural passenger transport Rural passenger transport  Rural transport services Rural transport services  Intermediate means of transport Intermediate means of transport