Transport-Land Use Research Study - Millennium Cities Initiative ...

The Accra Pilot BRT: Transport-Land Use Research Study
Millennium Cities Initiative and Accra Metropolitan Assembly
The AMA and Town and Country Planning should protect the existing rights-of-way for pedestrians
and bicyclists. For the Kaneshie area: identify sidewalks as rights-of-way for bicyclists and
pedestrians; mark and protect these areas from cars, informal trading and other obstructions; and
promote these areas as safe zones for these travellers.
The AMA can lead the development of an NMT plan that identifies a network of paths and bikeable
areas within the city, with key access points to the BRT, where people can safely park their bikes and
join the buses.
Promote driver training that includes sensitization and safeguarding for pedestrians and other road and
sidewalk users.
The City of Kumasi, in collaboration with Columbia University‟s Earth Institute, has launched a successful
pilot bamboo bike project in which local materials are used to make bikes for the local public. The project
has been well-received by the city‟s residents, and the promotion of bamboo bikes, in addition to regular
bikes, could be used to satisfy the demand for this form of transport in Greater Accra.
Design BRT stations with customer comfort, safety and security in mind.
With comfort identified as one of the complaints in the current public transportation system, stations should
be user-friendly for the passengers.
Position seats so that passengers are protected from weather conditions, especially since the Kaneshie
area is prone to flooding.
An anticipated problem is loitering and sleeping in stations after hours. To remedy this problem,
benches in the station should be outfitted with armrests, to add passenger comfort and discourage
sleeping on the benches.
Most importantly, we also recommend the addition of rubbish disposal facilities (bins or receptacles).
Address the extensive informal-sector commercial operations throughout Kaneshie Market.
Street hawking is a common activity along most of Winneba Road at Kaneshie, and,being unregulated, it
hinders optimal performance of the roadway. The Ministry of Roads and Highway‟s Resettlement Action
Plan provides a relocation and compensation strategy for registered sellers along the Winneba Road corridor,
but informal selling both in its current state, and once the BRT is implemented, must be addressed. At
present, city planning does not effectively address the formation of these informal markets.
Street hawkers along Winneba Road have located themselves at strategic points where there is heavy
human traffic, such as around markets and bus terminals, and where motorists and passengers can
access them, in and around congested areas. Improving traffic flow in these areas should reduce
street hawking, and ensuring that traffic moves at a regular and faster pace will serve, in an
unintended way, to drive them away from the streets.
At the proposed BRT terminal in Kaneshie, street hawkers will position themselves on the sidewalk
and road to take advantage of the foot traffic and idle vehicles, as they do now. The AMA should
designate a “no-hawking zone” at the terminal and should fine or issue tickets to hawkers and/or
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