Gaps in failure management of public transport supply in Addis Ababa: a comprehensive assessment

Abstract

This study assesses failures in public transport operational management emphasizing on gaps in policies, strategies, and regulations. Using a mixed-methods approach, data is collected through surveys from 505 respondents, interviews, and focus group discussion (FGD). Simple random and purposive sampling is used to select passenger, interview and focus group discussion participants. SPSS and NVivo software is used to analyse quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Three modes of public transport (bus, mini-bus taxi and midi-bus are included in the study. The result identified unaffordability, overcrowding, inaccessibility and longer waiting time as challenges of public transport. Absence of centralized control system, real-time data and advanced analytics to predict and address demand-supply mismatches, lack of different affordability intervention strategies, absence of demand management strategies, absence of public private partnership to finance supply, inability to devise own public transport financing mechanisms are found to be gaps in management of supply failures. In spite of the growing body of research on public transport failures in Addis Ababa, there are no studies that which analyze failure’s management on road-based public transport system. Hence, the study contributes to the transport literature by delivering practical insights into supply failure management and policy gaps in developing city settings.