Browsing by Author "Booysen, M.J."
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Item Characterizing the movement patterns of minibus taxis in Kampala’s paratransit system(Journal of Transport Geography, 2021) Ndibatya, Innocent; Booysen, M.J.Urban travelers in Africa depend on minibus taxis for their daily social and business commuting. This paratransit system is loosely regulated, self-organizing, and evolves organically in response to demand. Our study used floating car data to analyze and describe the movement characteristics of nine minibus taxis in Kampala, Uganda. We made three intriguing findings. Firstly, in searching for, picking up and transporting passengers, minibus taxi trajectories followed a heavy-tailed power-law distribution similar to a “Lévy walk”. Secondly, their routes' topology and shape gradually changed. Thirdly, the extraordinary winding (expressed in terms of tortuosity) of the paths suggested the extreme determination of the drivers' search for passengers. Our findings could help city planners to build on the self-organizing characteristics of the minibus taxi system, and improve the mobility of travelers, by optimizing routes and the distribution of public amenities.Item e-Quantum leap on a data highway: Planning for electric minibus taxis in sub-Saharan Africa's paratransit system(OPS, 2021) Booysen, M.J.; Abraham, C.J.; Ndibatya, I.; Rix, A.J.Minibus taxis are ubiquitous in the developing cities of the Global South. This versatile, and somewhat chaotic public transport system is now faced with the need to move to renewable energy. But the looming roll-out of electric vehicles poses a threat to the already fragile electrical grids of African cities. This chapter evaluates the energy requirements of decarbonisation and evaluates two types of data, passenger-based and vehicle-based, from research in South Africa that has modelled these taxis. Using these two data capture methods, we assess the energy requirements and charging opportunities for electric minibus paratransit in three African cities and compare the results of the two methods to assess their suitability for planning minibus taxi electrification.Item Minibus taxis in Kampala's paratransit system: Operations, economics and efficiency(Journal of Transport Geography, 2020) Ndibatya, Innocent; Booysen, M.J.Most cities in sub-Saharan Africa rely for their public transport on paratransit in the form of fourteen- to twenty-seater privately owned and mostly old minibus taxis. The system is often seen as disorganized, unregulated and inefficient. To assess the accuracy of this picture, we analyzed the operations and economics of Kampala's minibus taxi system and its efficiency from the passengers' and the drivers' perspectives, using ‘floating car data’. We found that the picture is largely accurate. Our findings suggest the need for moderate transformation: adequate enforcement of regulations, reorganization of ownership, renewal of fleets, and integration of ICT systems to facilitate scheduling, booking and fare collection. This will help to make the system safer, cleaner and more efficient for Kampalan commuters and more stable, secure and profitable for the minibus taxi drivers and the mini industries that depend on them.Item Ray of hope for sub-Saharan Africa's paratransit: Solar charging of urban electric minibus taxis in South Africa(Energy for Sustainable Development, 2021) Abraham, C.J.; Rix, A.J.; Ndibatya, I.; Booysen, M.J.Minibus taxi public transport is a seemingly chaotic phenomenon in the developing cities of the Global South with unique mobility and operational characteristics. Eventually this ubiquitous fleet of minibus taxis is expected to transition to electric vehicles, which will result in an additional energy burden on Africa's already fragile electrical grids. This paper examines the electrical energy demands of this possible evolution, and presents a generic simulation environment to assess the grid impact and charging opportunities. We used GPS tracking and spatio-temporal data to assess the energy requirements of nine electric minibus taxis as well as the informal and formal stops at which the taxis can recharge. Given the region's abundant sunshine, we modelled a grid-connected solar photovoltaic charging system to determine how effectively PV may be used to offset the additional burden on the electrical grid. The mean energy demand of the taxis was 213kWh/d, resulting in an average efficiency of 0.93kWh/km. The stopping time across taxis, a proxy for charging opportunity, ranged from 7.7 h/d to 10.6 h/d. The energy supplied per surface area of PV to offset the charging load of a taxi while stopping, ranged from 0.38 to 0.90kWh/m2 per day. Our simulator, which is publicly available, and the results will allow traffic planners and grid operators to assess and plan for looming electric vehicle roll-outs.