TRANSITIONS Project - Improving sustainability of the informal transport sector in Africa

Challenge

SLR was coordinator of this UK Aid-funded project (through the High Volume Transport programme) managing a consortium of European and African partners to deliver safer and more fuel-efficient informal public transport services in sub-Saharan Africa. The pilot cities were based in South Africa, Mozambique, Sierra Leone and Ghana who participated in applied research, life-cycle training and capacity building activities.

Solution

SLR led the consortium’s work in developing the TRANSITIONS Routemap Tool which draws on 12 months’ research and sets out the sequence of steps needed to enhance informal public transport services, based around improving drivers’ working conditions, affordability, user safety and fuel efficiency. It is designed to help transport stakeholders to shape effective policy frameworks drawing on good practices from around the world.

Impact

This led to an additional UK Aid project where SLR has developed a handbook for designing inclusive interchanges which has been piloted across bus stations in Lagos, Nigeria. This will assist stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa to improve the attractiveness of these modes and enable the efficient transfer between formal and informal public transport services.

As coordinator, SLR applied project management and quality management systems to ensure high value outputs from partners and sub-contractors, whilst mitigating risk and applying due diligence.