Accra to adopt Bogota Transport system

City planners in Accra on Tuesday took part in a workshop to discuss the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Bogota, Colombia, which reduces travel time and eases congestion in the city.

The project when executed would be the first Bus rapid Transit system in Africa and has the potential to speed efforts towards development. An application by the Ministry of Roads and Transport and the Accra Metropolitan Authority (AMA) requesting the Institute of Transportation Development Policy (ITDP) in the USA to select and assist Ghana implement the system has been endorsed.

The BRT system, initiated by Mr Enrique Penalosa, Former Mayor of Bogota dedicates some lanes solely for buses and makes them look more like subways. It uses a prepaid system and has traffic lights timed specifically for very long buses suitable for the system. The bus system also has a brand name that promotes its image and drivers are paid per kilometres travelled.

Dr Richard Anane, Road and Transport Minister, said at the workshop that the endorsement of the application was the first step for Ghana to unlock funds for the project executed by the Institute with the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Dr Anane said given the major role that road transport plays in the socio-economic development of any country it was the most patronised and accessible mode of transport among various modes. He noted that in Ghana, the road transport mode accounts for 98 percent of freight and 94 percent of passenger movement in country and to the neighbouring countries.

Statistics indicate that a 10 percent reduction in transport cost is associated with a 25 percent increase in trade and commerce. Dr Anane said these and other benefits of improved transport system in Ghana were government's prior motive for opting for the BRT system. He said government was committed to the mass transport system and said every effort would be made to ensure that it is successful.

Mr Magnus Lyncoln Quarshie, Country Director of the project, said stakeholders are in the preparatory stage of developing a master plan. He said so far information available to the team indicates that there are 50 kilometres of cycle lanes in Accra but these are not networked. The team needed research into the number of cyclists at Nima, for example, to know their destinations to be able to network the access routes for bicycle lanes. Mr Quarshie said the project would also ensure that the surface of roads, especially, these for the bicycles are smooth.

The team in conjunction with the AMA has begun a sensitisation project and one of them was implemented last week for about 300 cyclists. It is expected that the pubic would through this awareness appreciate the need to travel short distances on cycle, Mr Quarshie said.