The only way out of the traffic gridlock in urban city-states, such as Lagos, is to embrace intermodal transportation, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE
If you live in any of the cities, especially Lagos, you must have experienced traffic gridlock and its nightmares.
In the last decade, moving around Lagos city has become a challenge, with congestion that often defies solution. To beat the traffic, motorists drive against traffic, a worrisome culture known as one-way driving, which is fast emerging as the latest killer.
The Lagos State Bureau of Statistics stated that since 2015, the state has been losing two billion man hours to gridlock. The state has lost 10 billion man-hour in the last five years.
There is no likelihood that traffic congestion could end soon, as the roads get busier, despite attempts by the government to expand the road network and increase its carriage capacity.
Going by the projections of the Federal Roads Safety Corps (FRSC), traffic congestion may get worse, because road transportion retains almost an exclusive hold on the mobility needs of the people, trade and services to the detriment of other modes of transportation.
FRSC Corps Marshall Dr Boboye Oyeyemi said the answer to the intractable traffic gridlocks in urban centres, and city-states, such as Lagos, lies in exploring intermodal transportation, as the road mode is over-stretched and its capacity to respond to the growing demands for expansion almost nil.
Speaking at the first inaugural lecture of the Lagos State University School of Transportation (LASU-SOT), last Wednesday, Oyeyemi said seamless transportation in Lagos would continue to be a mirage, not necessarily because road users were becoming lawless, or because the roads were ‘incurably’ bad, or that traffic control agencies were not alive to their responsibilities, but because of growing pressure on the roads as a result of the growing population and over reliance on the road as the only developed mode of movement of goods, people and services from one point to the other.
Noting that the opportunities for road expansion is almost non-existent as a result of the small land size of the state, Oyeyemi, who spoke on ‘Transportation and road safety management: Achieving the sustainable development goals in Nigeria’, canvassed exploitation of inter-modal transportation i.e road (land and rail), waterways, air, and pipelines, to cater for the growing demand for mobility in the state.
“The cost of road expansion in places like Lagos is becoming increasingly high, with land acquisition, cost of compensations where acquisitions are needed to accommodate expansion have all made the development of alternative modes wherein the state has comparative advantage more compelling.”
The circulatory system
Likening transportation to the blood circulatory system in human beings, Boboye said just as a healthy blood circulation is a necessity to living, a seamless transportation is strategic to a healthy economy, as it facilitates trade and improves the movement of goods, people, ideas, technology and services.
He said Lagos, being already ahead of other states in transportation planning, should deepen its strides by completing the pilot blue light rail project, which it started 17 years ago, and reactivate water transportation which the Jakande administration in 1983, developed into a viable transportation alternative for the people of the state.
According to him, a major impediment to free flow of traffic in many parts are traceable to the shrinking road capacity to meet the growing vehicle density, which in a state like Lagos, accounts for 33 percent of total number of vehicles in the country, and above the national average.
Statistics
While South Africa has 2,000 road network, categorised as Category A (trunk A roads), Nigeria with 204,200 kilometres of roads, made up of 34,179.20 km of federal roads, (representing 17 percent) of total road network, 30,489.40km of state roads representing 16 percent and 129, 531.40km of Local Government roads, representing 67 percent.
What it means is that while in South Africa all the roads are well laid, and regularly maintained, in Nigeria, 67 percent of the roads are local government roads (more known as trunk c, or rural roads) with poor maintenance being the common denominator.
If the railway can account for three million passenger traffic daily in the United Kingdom, Lagos, with a population of 26.6 million, according to him, has the population to profitably sustain all modes of transportation. Rather, the blue line, which was supposed to be the flagship of the state’s capacity in rail sub-sector has been comatose for close to two decades.
A similar worrisome tale trails the state’s capacity on the waterways. Despite its huge potential of eight million passenger traffic daily, the state hardly accounts for 50,000 passenger traffic daily, while barge services with huge cargo capacity on the waterway is almost non-existent.
The resultant effect of these neglect, Oyeyemi averred, is the continued concentration on the road as the only viable means of transportation. This has left in its wake continuous convolutions and nightmare on road users.
According to him, while a seamless transportation enables increased access to jobs, markets, education, recreation and healthcare, the inefficient movement of people, goods and services reduces productivity, promotes wasted, increases carbon emissions which depletes the ozone layers, thus triggering climate change, which compromises safety and threatens the quality of life.
He held that continued growth in population, employment and trade have led to the placement of increasing demand on road transportation system, and challenging the efficiency of road network.
He identified the major challenges to road efficiency to include lane indiscipline exemplified by driving against traffic, popularly called one way driving, and the preponderance of commercial motorcycle operators most of whose reckless driving have continued to contribute to the growing rate of accidents, which has remained one of the highest among other developing nations of the world.
He wanted okada as a means of commercial operation banned, he canvassed that each state to become stricter in granting permits for okada operations.
He reiterated that the FRSC would from August 1, begin the enforcement of okada operator’s licences and number plates, saying that many of them are operating without licences and number plates, making efforts to capture their activities and documenting their involvements in accidents and crime a herculean task.
Rather than patronise okada, the Corps Marshal wants other states to copy Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory in providing large and medium capacity buses for commuters. With more buses connecting the first and the last miles of commuters from their homes to their destinations and back, the total dependency on private vehicles will be reduced.
“An efficient intermodal system of transportation is the key to unlocking the congested roads, reduce the need for private vehicles, promote public sector transportation, reduce carbon emission, improve environment and enhance the nation’s tourism potentials,” Oyeyemi said.
Besides okada operations, the FRSC, he said is also having a challenge with articulated vehicle operators, most of who have become lawless and reckless.
Observing that over 90 percent of articulated trucks on the roads are above 35 years and no longer road worthy, Oyeyemi disclosed that he would long have clamped down on such vehicles, especially those carrying wet cargoes, but for pleas that going ahead might trigger scarcity in the economy.
He said with the government’s plan to facilitate a loan for fleet owners, Nigerians may begin to witness a reduction in truck accidents, with the gradual withdrawal of the old vehicles. He said 80 percent of trucks on the roads have had their weights adjusted from the original design with, for instance, a petroleum tanker designed to carry 33,000 litres of fuel now adjusted to ferry 66,000 litres, thus destroying the roads. He said a fine of not less than N1 million would be slammed on any operator found guilty of this.
For Oyeyemi, even insurance firms have a role to play in promoting safety and safe cultures on the nation roads. The Corps Marshal called for realistic prices for insurance policies and wondered why insurance firms have failed to break the cartel behind fake insurance policies proliferating in the market.
He called for realistic premium payments, that would see any motorists without crashes to pay less, while those with history of crashes should be made to pay more. Also, insurance firms should vote a percentage of their premium on improving roads or equip trauma and emergency centres across the country.
He said the FRSC has had tremendous impact on eight of the 17 goals of the SDGs, focusing on road safety, food security, promotion of the health and well-being of Nigerians promotion of life long learnings, the promotion of sustainable economic growth building resilience and sustainable and safe cities, promotion of policies that promotes climate change and strengthening of global partnerships.
LASU’s Vice Chancellor Prof. Olanrewaju Fagbohun said the SOT scored another first in developing solutions to transportation and traffic congestions not only in the state, but also in the country.
He said LASU has been designated a Centre of Excellence not only by the National Universities Commission (NUC), by also the United Nations. He pledged that the school would continue to study the challenges besetting the country to provide solutions.
Earlier, Dean of the School, Prof Samuel Gbadebo Odewunmi, said it is happy having an achiever like Oyeyemi deliver its first inaugural lecture. He urged governments to palliate their legacy projects, especially roads in order to reduce the nightmare motorists face plying the roads.
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