A decline in organized public transportsystems has led to rapid growth in non-conventional means ofpublic transport, initially provided by minibuses and sharedtaxi/vans, and more recently by commercial motorcycles.Unlike cities in South and East Asia, ownership and use ofmotorized two-wheelers as a personalized vehicle is verysmall in sub-Saharan cities. However, over the past decadethere has been a significant growth in the use ofmotorcycles as a commercial public transport mode. Whileoffering certain transport advantages in the form of easymaneuverability, ability to travel on poor roads, and demandresponsiveness, commercial motorcycle service growth hasalso led to an increase in road accidents, trafficmanagement problems, pervasive noise and increases in localair pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Governmentefforts to regulate the market have had the contrary impactof compounding the problem by distorting market structures.The growth in the use of commercial motorcycles has alsodispelled one of the commonly held illusions: fare controlsin the public bus market are often justified to supportaffordability for a vast majority of low income population;however, commercial motorcycles are more expensive than thelowest bus fares, but are increasingly being patronized bythe poor due to the inadequacy of bus services. This paperattempts to evaluate the commercial motorcycle mode used inthe three cities of Douala, Lagos, and Kampala, based ontheir political economy context in order to draw generalconclusions of value throughout Africa and the rest of thedeveloping world. The evaluation underscores the linkagesbetween governance failure and weak sector performance andhighlights the need to adapt policy instruments to localpolitical and economic context. Central to discussion is thenecessity to develop a participation framework driven byopen communications across a wide spectrum of stakeholders.
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