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Case studieS Summary : ADDIS ABABA
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Addis Ababa Case Study
Title: Study of Urban Public Transport Conditions inAddis Ababa, Ethiopia
Author: Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility IBIS Transport Consultants Ltd
Date: March 2005
Download the case study (MS Word 992KB)

Summary

Regulatory regime
Bus system characteristics
Ownership of Anbessa
Routes
Operating practices
Infrastructure
Key indicators
Perceived problems
Solutions
Proposed reforms

This Case Study is based on two recent studies, on Improving Urban Transport through Private Participation in Addis Ababa, completed in February 2005, and on Urban Transport Planning and Traffic Management for Addis Ababa, still in progress when the case study was carried out. Data from these studies were supplemented by interviews with stakeholders.

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia, with a population of approximately 3 million. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a GDP per capita in 2000 of approximately US$118. It’s estimated that between 5% and 17.5% of household expenditure in Addis Ababa is on transport.

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Regulatory regime
Public transport services in Addis Ababa fall under the jurisdiction of the city’s Transport Authority.

The market for passenger transport services was effectively deregulated in 1992, but its implementation has so far been limited to the taxi sector, which covers vehicles carrying up to 12 people including the driver. The publicly owned Anbessa City Bus Services Enterprise had held an exclusive franchise for urban bus services within the country. In practice it still holds a monopoly of conventional bus services.

The taxi sector is encouraged to organize itself on an area basis, but this is not a license condition. A limit has been set on the number of vehicles that can belong to any one association to prevent the emergence of monopoly powers. Currently three associations are registered, but their total membership represents only a small proportion of the industry. Nevertheless it’s these bodies that the authority negotiates over all regulatory matters, particularly setting tariffs.

In theory, liberalization of the urban passenger transport market also applies to conventional bus services. So Anbessa can no longer be considered to be holding an exclusive franchise within the city. But no competitor has been able to emerge to challenge it. Control of fares, Anbessa’s access to subsidy and public investment act as a barrier to any new market entry. However, there is no reason why commercial bus services, operating at a fare above that of the subsidized services, shouldn’t be encouraged.

Existing instruments do not provide for the control of operators or of owners’ associations. This lack of collective responsibility makes enforcement measures against drivers in particular somewhat ineffective.

There is no body, either within the local civil administration or the operator associations, that monitors and controls service delivery on a formal basis although the Transport Authority has a small research group which does on an ad hoc basis.

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Bus system characteristicssingle deck bus
Public transport in Addis Ababa is provided by high-capacity buses operated by Anbessa, with a nominal capacity of 100 passengers, and by minibus and modified taxis (pick-ups converted to carry passengers) with a capacity of 11 passengers. Shared sedan taxis constitute a small proportion of the modal mix, and there are no urban rail services.

Anbessa has approximately 530 buses. The number of minibuses and modified taxis operating in Addis Ababa is estimated at just over 7,500.minibus image

Different regimes exist for the setting of fares on the Anbessa buses and the private minibuses. The actual levels of authorized fares vary widely as a result. For buses there is a flat fare for each route, which varies from route to route. Approved fares for minibuses are related to the length of the trip within bands of kilometers run. However, the setting of the band limits has resulted in certain anomalies in fare rates. As a result, most operators artificially break their routes (especially at peak times) to force passengers to pay two higher-rated fares.

Minibus fares levels are about four times those charged by Anbessa, at least for the lengths of trips typically undertaken.

No attempt has been made to provide a high-quality public transport service in Addis Ababa.

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Ownership of Anbessa

Anbessa was originally a private enterprise holding an exclusive franchise for the provision of passenger transport services in the city, but was nationalized in 1974. The federal government now owns the company, but its operations are financially supported by the city.

In 2000 the Ethiopian Privatization Agency earmarked Anbessa for divestiture. In preparation for this, financial due diligence was carried out by external auditors and a number of recommendations were made. These have only been partially implemented, with the result that the enterprise remains encumbered.

Anbessa is required to act in a commercial manner, but does not have the freedom to set its own tariffs. These have effectively been frozen since 1992. The city and national governments have provided financial and capital support to ensure both its continuing operation and its expansion to meet growing demand. A subsidy is paid for each passenger carried. However, this subsidy is being progressively reduced, and the city is committed to its eventual elimination.

Anbessa is unable to make adequate provision for the replacement of its assets from its operational cash flow, and its business expansion has almost been entirely externally funded.

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Routes
Anbessa operates 89 routes. Most are radial routes to the central business and commercial areas of the city. The current bus routing and scheduling plan for Anbessa is prepared internally by the company. The introduction of any limited competition regime of economic regulation would require that this capability be transferred to the Transport Authority.

The fare charged for any journey is the fare applicable to that route, and is not related to the distance traveled by the passenger. Authorized fares can be raised only when a new route is created, or an existing route is altered or extended. This has provided an incentive for Anbessa to develop a complex network with a high degree of overlap between individual routes

There are 106 minibus routes in Addis Ababa. There is no centralized bus route plan for minibuses. Their route network has developed over time to link fixed terminals on an ad hoc basis as demand has been identified. However, these routes are then broken down into smaller sections, ostensibly to provide route interchange opportunities. Drivers often use these interchanges, particular at peak hours, to exploit the authorized fares structure and maximize their incomes. There may be as many as 300 route segments.

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Operating practices
Anbessa’s services are operated to schedules. Scheduled running times on all routes are the same for each trip, irrespective of the time of day or the direction of travel. As a result, trips are often lost at peak times when buses cannot keep to their scheduled time. Approximately 15% of scheduled trips are lost each day. Terminal controllers adjust services as required to minimize the effects of late arrivals and lost trips, and re-allocate vehicles accordingly in order to meet the most pressing levels of demand.

Minibus taxis do not operate to scheduled timetables but follow the practice of full-load dispatching. This can provide a good level of service throughout the day on busy routes, but often results in excessive waiting time in the off-peak period for quieter routes. Self-appointed marshals control minibus departures from the terminals. Drivers make payments to the marshals for the right to use the terminal.

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Infrastructure
Most of Anbessa’s routes are operated to one of three main terminals in the central business district. Another seven interchanges are also used, but most routes originate from on-street facilities in the suburbs.

The terminals are congested, and poorly laid out to deal with the volume of bus movements and the high number of routes being operated through them. A further problem arising from the use of central business district terminals is the congestion that these attract through the intensity of vehicle movements, the density of pedestrian flows to and from the terminal, and the generation of informal economic activity.

It has been recommended that any development of these facilities should be delayed pending restructuring of the route network in response to a scientific travel demand study. This would probably result in fewer routes terminating in the city centre.ssssmini bus

Little provision is made in current road designs for bus stop lay-bys or for queuing space for turning traffic. Few intersections have traffic signals, and these tend to suffer from inefficient staging and unreliable power supply. Resultant delays affect all vehicles.

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Key indicators
Anbessa maintains detailed records of its passenger carryings. Allowing for fare evasion, total carryings are estimated at between 650,000 and 700,000 trips per day, equating to over 1,500 passengers per bus per day. Daily carryings on minibuses and modified taxis are estimated to be of the order of 1.2 million passengers per day, with average load factors on the minibuses and modified taxis of approximately 90% and 83% respectively. Overall, these figures suggest a daily public transport patronage of some 1.9 million passengers, or roughly 0.65 trips per day per person living in the city.

Part of the explanation for the high load factor is the bi-directional nature of traffic even at the peak hours. Anbessa is also able to maintain high load factors throughout the day, despite withdrawing very few buses after the peak, because of its strong price advantage compared to the minibus and modified taxis. This results in an extreme peaking of the minibus demand, with the result that large numbers of vehicles are parked at terminals between the peaks.

Anbessa employs a total staff of 3,150, equivalent to 6.0 staff per serviceable bus. The ratio rises to nearly 8.0 when measured against the number of vehicles actually deployed in commercial service daily. Among the reasons for the relatively high staff-to-bus ratio are the use of on-board conductors for revenue collection, and the high proportion of all-day services. mini bus

Anbessa has a peak vehicle requirement for its core services of 344 buses. Total kilometers reported for 2003/04 were 21.6 million, or 1.8 million kilometers per month, representing 176 kilometers per bus per day. Given the high level of passenger demand, this appears to represent inefficient deployment of buses.

No figures are available for the operating speed of minibuses, but the scheduled speed on Anbessa services averages 16.8 kilometers per hour across its network. Such speeds are relatively high for an urban bus system with no public transport priority measures, and the high level of lost trips (15%) suggests that this figure is overly optimistic particularly at peak times.

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Perceived problems
The main problems identified in passenger interviews were low frequency of bus services and hence long waiting times. Crowding and overloading was the worst-rated quality-of-service indicator. These problems demonstrate an acute shortage of supply for conventional low-cost bus services relative to demand.

Users also complained of a lack of facilities, both at terminals and at stops along the route. Only a very small proportion of the 900 bus stops have any form of shelter. Quality of service was a significant concern of bus users, but not for minibus riders.

Surveys have shown unacceptable levels of service at peak hours and the inefficient use of road space by low capacity modes of transport. Cars move only 15% of people, while accounting for 60% of vehicles in traffic. However even the minibuses required 23% of all vehicle trips to carry 39% of people, whereas buses carried 45% with only 4.5% of the traffic flow.

The lack of real competition within the industry fails to exert control over tariffs or to act as an incentive to raise service quality. In effect, producer interests are given priority over those of the consumer.

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Solutions
For effective governance of the urban transport sector in Addis Ababa, an appropriate institutional framework is required. This must cover both the planning and procurement of the transport services and their supporting infrastructure, and also the regulation of the actual service delivery. Whatever the preferred framework, new or revised primary legislation may be required for the establishment of the relevant bodies.

If the potential productivity gains offered by larger buses are to be fully realized, and hence reductions in cost per passenger place kilometer be obtained, then the priority must be to redesign the minibus route network based on the principles of aggregation of demand and the use of planned interchange. The total number of routes offered would be reduced significantly, but the range of mobility options would be preserved. With a smaller number of routes, larger buses would be able to offer an attractive frequency of service over these routes.mini bus

It has been recommended that a new route network should be designed, that the service levels over this should be specified, and the right to operate these services then offered to prospective operators under competitive tender.

However the local interpretation of these recommendations is that they should be restricted to the bus sector, and exclude minibuses. For the latter, it’s planned to encourage more effective self-regulation through the strengthening of area-based owners associations and mandating that all operators join one of these. While this process has the potential to create a more orderly market, it will reduce the opportunity for competition in the sector.

For the bus sector, there cannot be any competition for the provision of highly subsidized bus services unless the conditions of such subsidy are made available equitably to all potential bidders. Competition could still be brought into the operation of the vehicles through making them available on operating leases to potential route contractors. Competition for the supply of the vehicles could come through kilometer-priced contracts for their provision and maintenance.

In the middle ground lies the potential for commercial bus services operated under a regime of limited competition. These could either be relatively standard services, or genuinely premium services capable of attracting car users. In either case, the main problem will arise in mobilizing the necessary local capital given the lack of investor activity in the sector and the delays in creating capital markets.

There is also a need for some degree of priority in the allocation of road space to high-capacity public transport.

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Proposed reforms
The Transport Authority has decided to implement a limited-competition regime for delivery of urban bus services but retain a self-regulated private taxi sector.

At this stage it’s not clear just how such a regime might be implemented, and whether the public capital and operating support provided to Anbessa will prevent the emergence of genuine competition. Either an additional market tier will need to be created (premium buses), or else the same level of public support will need to be made available to all potential market entrants.

Infrastructure service providers, such as station marshals, will be made subservient to the owners associations and it’s anticipated that an orderly market will emerge.

 

   

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