Characterization of the bus transport system in greater Kampala city area

Abstract

Although public transport is the most commonly used means of transport in urban areas, the current level of provision of public transport in Kampala City still has challenges. However, with limited information on the performance of public transport in Kampala City it is difficult to make reasonable improvements in the public transport system. The aim of this research was to determine the characteristics of bus transport in Kampala City in order to support development of strategies for improving public bus transport in the city. Two bus routes of Kampala – Entebbe and Kampala – Gayaza were selected and used to determine the average operating conditions by bus with specific emphasis on the stop distance, speed, dwell time and headway metrics.

The data was collected using the on-board survey method (test vehicle technique) where 16 surveyors were deployed on the bus routes for a period of 4 weeks. The data was collected on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday beginning 7:00am to 8:00pm in the inbound and outbound directions and covered both holiday and school time. The results showed that the bus stops in Kampala City have an average spacing of 525m and 1200m in the urban and suburban areas respectively; the average speed by bus during the morning peak, off-peak and evening peak were 3.2min/km, 1.98min/km and 3.57min/km in the outbound direction; and correspondingly 3.74min/km, 2.6min/km and 3.25min/km in the inbound direction respectively; and the average dwell time at the bus stops were 2.59min (SD=2.33min) and 2.89min (SD = 2.55min) in the outbound and inbound directions, respectively. Further, the bus service frequency was measured giving an average headway time of 54.82 minutes. Based on the study objectives and findings, it was concluded that the performance of public bus transport in GKMA is below the average figures of similar cities. Hence, the following recommendations were made: a) improving average bus speed on the routes by merging bus stops in the same block, and replacing roundabouts at intersections with signalized junctions; b) reducing stop dwell time by deploying buses with at least two doors, and digitizing fare payment system; and c) decreasing average head way along routes by increasing number of buses on the routes, and using modern onboard technology including GPS and AVL to track distance between consecutive buses along the same route.