Refereed Journals

Pedestrian fatalities constitute a fourth of all road deaths in Ghana. Footbridges are recent countermeasures deployed to improve pedestrians’ safety in Ghana. The main objectives of the research were to: (i) identify the lapses on the footbridges and their effects on pedestrian crossing behavior in the vicinity of the edifices, (ii) explore the reasons why pedestrians do not use the footbridges and, (iii) evaluate the road safety impact of the footbridges on pedestrian safety. Naturalistic observations and peak-hour pedestrian counts on the footbridges and within the vicinities of the facilities were carried out. Focus group discussions were also conducted to understand pedestrian crossing and walking behavior at the footbridges. Lastly, pedestrian casualties were analyzed for 3 years before and after the bridge construction. There were 165 pedestrian casualties along the highway section. Of these, 29% were fatal while 40% of the victims were hospitalized for at least 24-hours. Many pedestrians still cross the multilane-highway at grade. The main reasons for non-use of the bridges include heights, lengths, security, poor illumination and hawking. Pedestrian injuries have significantly declined during the after period compared with the before period. Findings have implications for road safety education and siting of future footbridges

The study analyzes paratransit travel time variability and investigates the effects of determining factors. Data collection was done through a travel time survey onboard paratransit vehicles on a chosen route in Kumasi. Key statistical metrics were used to describe the travel time distribution (TTD) in varying departure time windows, and various distributions were fitted to describe travel time variability. The backward stepwise regression analysis approach was used to determine the predictive variables of daily variation in travel times. The TTD did not change by narrowing the departure window in the study route's outbound direction, where a typical paratransit station is operational. The Generalized Extreme Value and Burr distributions were the best fit for the dataset. Dwell time, segment length, signal delay, and the recurrent congestion index on a given segment contributed to the daily variation in paratransit travel times.

Although mobility as a service (MaaS) aims at improving transport service quality for transport users, the success of the scheme also promises certain benefits for operators. For developing countries, the onboarding of operators and operator unions presents a significant challenge to the development of MaaS. This is because most transport forms in these countries are informal and privately owned. The willingness of transport operators to participate in the MaaS ecosystem can therefore be considered a key measure of its success or otherwise. In this study, 181 paratransit minibus taxi operators in Kumasi, and 5 executives of the largest transport union i.e. the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) were interviewed on possible factors that could encourage their adoption of MaaS. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and content analysis. The results suggest the constructs; performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), familiarity with ride-hailing (AF), and social influence (SI) were significant in determining operators' behavioral intentions towards MaaS. These findings suggest that for operators, a MaaS platform that could improve overall job efficiency while being relevant to commuters, would be most ideal for their participation in the MaaS ecosystem. Union executives were however skeptical about MaaS, with their key concern being the possible job losses that it could create, particularly for the drivers' assistants (mates). Given the power dynamics in the paratransit sector, it is safe to say that this skepticism could represent a significant institutional barrier to MaaS adoption, although an MSP could attempt to implement MaaS alongside current paratransit or introduce it gradually among populations inclined to use it.

While much has been reported about bus travel times and their variability for formal bus services, little is known about travel time variation for paratransit, the dominant means of transportation in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study quantifies the components of paratransit travel time on a selected route in Kumasi, Ghana. It analyzes the variability of travel times within the day and from day to day. A mobile phone app was employed to conduct a travel time survey onboard paratransit vehicles on the study route. GPS and stop-related data were collected. Various travel time variability measures and heat map was used for within day and day-to-day variability analysis in both directions of the study section. About 16% of travel time in the study section was spent dwelling (boarding and alighting). The variation in travel times across the day was comparatively higher than those of formal bus services and fluctuated across the day with no distinct pattern within any given time period. Both early and late trips contributed to this variation across the day. Fridays had significantly different variability from other weekdays.