Lagos traffic, many say, is stressful. To address the traffic hassle, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) is pushing for Non-Motorised Transportation (NMT), such as cycling and walking. How feasible is NMT in Lagos? Some experts say it is a pipe dream. But LAMATA argues that NMT will give the city a world class transportation system. Adeyinka Aderibigbe writes.
To the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) Acting Managing Director Mr Iyiola Adegboye, non-motorised transportation is the way to address traffic congestion in the city.
According to Adegboye, motorised transportation is one of the lead causes of air pollution, carbon emission, congestion and deaths on the road.
He said LAMATA is determined to champion the change for a cleaner and healthier form of transportation.
Road transportation, according to him, accounts for 22 per cent of global carbon-dioxide emission and 1.3 million deaths yearly, with 50 million injured.
At a workshop jointly organised by LAMATA and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in Lagos, Adegboye said the damage done by motorised transportation through emission and pollution must be checked to preserve the environment and save the future.
Many countries, he said, have embraced NMT, like cycling and walking, noting that in the past trekking was the in thing among the old generation.
He listed the advantages of NMT to include reduction in road crashes, energy conservation and road cost saving.
Others are reduced risk of mortality, improvement in value of time, reduction in congestion, and mitigation of climate change.
He said there was the need to tap into the huge benefits and direct attention towards promoting the mode, providing the infrastructure and promoting their use.
Adegboye said: “The authority has resolved to begin to articulate strategies for the take-off of trekking and cycling as new components of the state’s Strategic Transportation Master Plan and incorporate these in the state’s traffic laws. The Authority shall also provide separate infrastructure where appropriate for the use of cyclists, or those trekking; incorporate standards of provision for cyclists and pedestrians in new road infrastructure design and incorporate responsibilities to provide for non-motorised transport in road fund statutes and procedures.”
Return of the old
Indeed, in the 60s up to the late 70s, non-motorised mode of transportation was planned into the transportation architecture of Nigeria. Many of the emerging urban centres had road networks where a lane was dedicated to cyclists in government’s determination to promote the non-motorised transportation as a cardinal pillar of transportation infrastructure, especially for short distances.
In Lagos and the federal capital, a handful of roads are designed to accommodate bicycle lanes and walkways. The Eko Bridge and Carter Bridge for instance had these features.
Those days, a cyclist, riding with relish on the roads and especially on these bridges were a common sight. But the discovery of crude oil and attendant affluence had since erased that, as the emerging middle class choose to celebrate their new found status with new motor cars.
The pressure to accommodate the increase in the volume of vehicles plying the roads, saw to the jettisoning of the bicycle lane features which were soon totally abolished across many of the nation’s road network. This was the case until two years ago when former Governor Babatunde Fashola, through the supervision of LAMATA, piloted their re-introduction through two roads – in Surulere and (Wempco Road, Agidingbi), Ikeja, where bicycle lanes were specifically created as an added feature of the road rehabilitation contract.
Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola, (as he then was), stated that all new road projects to be awarded in the state would have a dedicated lane for bicycle riders, as part of the commitment of the government to igniting a bicycle riding revolution among Lagosians.
For Fashola, the bane of bicycle riding was the lack of infrastructure, and pledged that government would promote bike riding and trekking, especially on short distances, as part of measures to address air pollution, carbon emission and traffic congestion.
Not new
The ‘bicycle riding’ revolution as part of the bigger non-motorised transportation or ecomobility transportation initiative wasn’t exactly new.
Former Transportation Minister Chief Ojo Maduekwe, had championed the revolution as far back as 2000. As Minister for Transportation, Maduekwe became the strongest advocate for bicycle riding to promote healthier population, and a cleaner environment. But the campaign soon fizzled out as Nigerians refused to buy into the initiative.
Facilitator of the workshop, UNEP’s Share the Road Global Programme Lead Consultant Mrs. Carly Koinange, said UNEP is pushing for a paradigm shift from car-oriented transportation to people-oriented transportation because the latter, is more efficient and environmentally sustainable means of making short trips.
According to her, UNEP is promoting environmentally friendly transportation because an increase in bicycling and walking would reduce country’s dependence on fuel and reduce premature deaths from traffic accidents each year.
With the global road motorisation which was about 1 billion excluding two wheelers, in 2010, hitting 1.6 billion by 2013 and peaking at 2.5 billion by 2050 and an attendant 0.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), lost time to traffic in the Unites States, it becomes imperative for the world to tinker with the transportation systems, Koinange said.
She said the search for new modes was behind Goal 11 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) which focussed on making the cities safe, with key focus on the need to provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transportation system for all and the expansion of public transportation with special attention to the vulnerable- women, children and persons with disabilities.
She, therefore, challenged LAMATA to champion the cause of a change in eco-mobility which would seek to increase accessibility to modes of transportation that promotes cleaner, safer and friendlier environment.
Adegboye admitted that a lot would depend on how LAMATA applies itself to the challenges that make NMT a non issue in Lagos. Chief among these, the LAMATA chief said are; inconsistent and poor road design, lack of adequate and safe NMT infrastructure, scant consideration for vulnerable groups, such as children and the physically challenged, and lack of enforcement on existing infrastructure.
Other limiting factors are the non recognition of walking and cycling as priority investment areas by government, competition of other road users who see cyclists and pedestrians as nuisance, and the safety risk of walking or cycling in Nigeria.
These have resulted in inadequate policies regarding NMT, as well as poor implementation of NMT master plan because they are not considered as a way of dealing with increasing trend in motorised rates.
Adegboye lamented the absence of political will to champion NMT’s cause through the legislation of relevant laws, and lack of enforcement on existing NMT facilities.
All of these, he argued, had led to poor opinion of NMT as a modal choice by citizens and competition of other road users who see cyclists and pedestrians as a nuisance. He said to succeed; LAMATA must reduce the safety risk in walking and cycling.
According to him, LAMATA has come up with short, medium and long-term strategies aimed at turning Lagos into a walking and cycling megacity. These include taking an NMT audit, planning, designing and construction of safe and accessible infrastructure, stronger management of pedestrian bridges and crossing that would lead to an attitudinal change among Lagosians.
No NMT
But for experts, this is another wrong-headed initiative that may not achieve desired results. A road safety expert, Adetokunbo Thomas, said though the NMT was a good idea, it cannot work in Lagos, because it does not fit into the state’s present transportation modes.
He said: “Except you limit walking and cycling to intra community, there is no way it could serve the general interest of motorists.”
According to him, “In copying things from the West, some things do not just make sense and one of them is NMT. In developed societies, they have developed multimodal systems and so they can introduce road tax which makes it a wise option for people to patronise public transportation, the reverse is the case here. Here, attention is concentrated so much on one mode of transportation and the infrastructure is too poor and inadequate to accommodate NMT.”
Executive Director of Safety Without Borders Mr Patrick Adenusi said NMT may not work in this part because of our level of humidity.
According to him, Lagos is sunny and a man cycling on a short distance would have perspired so much that he might need to have a shower when he gets to his destination.
He said while it was true that the older generation used bicycles, “it must be pointed out that they never rode bicycles to social events. They only rode it to their farms.”
Adenusi said the risk element of adopting an NMT in a city like Lagos is high. Walking or cycling on Lagos roads is extremely risky because “most motorists are not trained to drive”. He wondered how many business executives of political appointees the agency would convince to ride a bicycle to their offices.
For Adenusi, most roads within the metropolis are no longer suitable for NMT because they have been demarcated for Bus Rapid Transit, adding that “if you have already dedicated a lane for BRT’s use, where will you give to the cyclists or pedestrians who you are encouraging to walk? Going ahead without dedicating an bicycle area would only breed confusion and make transportation more strenous”.
He said countries that had introduced NMT not only have suitable weather and not as humid as ours, they have also developed a seamless intermodal system of transportation that promotes trekking or cycling as the last mile transportation option.
He said: “NMT is a fantastic idea, but it is not what we need now. It can no longer work in our environment. The infrastructural requirement to re-integrate it now would be too high and I see this as another opportunity by the west to sell their bicycles to us. If we are still mopping up motorcycles because they are not in our transportation plan, why open ourselves up again as a dumping ground for bicycles? Would these people establish their manufacturing plants here, or would they just be traders interested in repatriating fortunes to their home countries?”
Adenusi said in assisting us tackle our crisis, UNEP should be fair to Africa by trying to study our challenges rather than pushing things down our throats.”
More of trains
Rather than promoting NMT which may seem right but non fitting into our environment, Adenusi canvassed stronger support for the development of a robust train infrastructure.
“What Lagos and Nigeria needed now is to have a rail network that works. If this happens, there would be a major drop in traffic congestion because people would have better, faster and more affordable option but more fundamental is that people may decide to live in the interlands and work in the urban centres.
“An improved train service would translate to a reduction in the number of vehicles on the road, whether passenger or cargo. Many would drop their vehicles and even move out of urban centres to the peripheries, yet retain their work.”
