Alphonse Nkurunziza

Modeling Commuter Preferences for the Proposed Bus Rapid Transit in Dar-es-Salaam

The paper analyzes individual commuter preferences towards the proposed bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. The objective of the survey was to identify how commuters perceive and value the proposed BRT service quality attributes. A stated preference survey of potential users of the proposed BRT was administered to 684 commuters who traveled to the central business district (CBD) on a regular basis. To this end, a special pictorial score card was developed that was suited for the local context and needed to capture the preferences of the commuter respondents. The BRT attributes considered for study are travel time, travel fare, and comfort. The stated choice data were analyzed using a binary logit model. The findings reveal, in order of importance, that comfort is the most valued attribute compared to travel time and travel fare, respectively.

A retrospective study of behavioural transitions in bicycle use of commuters in Dar-es-Salaam

Travel behaviour literature focuses on factors that influence individual travel behaviour, whether socio-demographic, related to urban form and land use or to attributes of available transport modes. Less attention is given to investigating changes in travel behaviour and a possible relation with events or stages in the life of individuals. This paper examines transitions in cycling behaviour of daily commuters in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. The study adopts the stages of change model to profile individuals with respect to their bicycle use. A retrospective survey was conducted among 448 daily commuters with a stratified sampling method. Stratification was based on current behaviour and related to the stages: prepared for action, action, maintenance and relapse. The study reveals that the majority of people start to cycle around primary school age. At that age cycling provides prestige and is considered to be fun, and it is more attractive than walking when covering larger distances. No differences in this respect are found between people living in the city at that time and those in the rural areas, although in the latter case trip purposes for bicycle use show differences. Analysis of people in the relapse stage, i.e. when they have stopped cycling, indicates that transitions into the relapse stage occur from all other stages considered. In a considerable number of cases stopping to cycle coincides with an event in the life of the individual, e.g. leaving school, moving to the city, broken or stolen bicycle, involved in traffic accident, got married. A variety of reasons is reported as motivation to stop cycling, of which lack of (perceived) traffic safety is dominant. Moreover, cycling experiences a strong competition from the dala dala, the local minibus shared taxis.