IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jotrge/v92y2021ics0966692321000545.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Characterizing the movement patterns of minibus taxis in Kampala's paratransit system

Author

Listed:
  • Ndibatya, Innocent
  • Booysen, M.J.

Abstract

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Ndibatya, Innocent & Booysen, M.J., 2021. "Characterizing the movement patterns of minibus taxis in Kampala's paratransit system," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:92:y:2021:i:c:s0966692321000545
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692321000545
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Kisaalita & Josephat Sentongo-Kibalama, 2007. "Delivery of urban transport in developing countries: the case for the motorcycle taxi service (boda-boda) operators of Kampala," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 345-357.
    2. G. M. Viswanathan & Sergey V. Buldyrev & Shlomo Havlin & M. G. E. da Luz & E. P. Raposo & H. Eugene Stanley, 1999. "Optimizing the success of random searches," Nature, Nature, vol. 401(6756), pages 911-914, October.
    3. Ndibatya, Innocent & Booysen, M.J., 2020. "Minibus taxis in Kampala's paratransit system: Operations, economics and efficiency," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Ferreira, A.S. & Raposo, E.P. & Viswanathan, G.M. & da Luz, M.G.E., 2012. "The influence of the environment on Lévy random search efficiency: Fractality and memory effects," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(11), pages 3234-3246.
    5. du Preez, Dirk & Zuidgeest, Mark & Behrens, Roger, 2019. "A quantitative clustering analysis of paratransit route typology and operating attributes in Cape Town," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Jeff Alstott & Ed Bullmore & Dietmar Plenz, 2014. "powerlaw: A Python Package for Analysis of Heavy-Tailed Distributions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, January.
    7. Plano, Christopher & Behrens, Roger & Zuidgeest, Mark, 2020. "Towards evening paratransit services to complement scheduled public transport in Cape Town: A driver attitudinal survey of alternative policy interventions," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 273-289.
    8. Jacqueline M. Klopp & Clemence Cavoli, 2019. "Mapping minibuses in Maputo and Nairobi: engaging paratransit in transportation planning in African cities," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(5), pages 657-676, September.
    9. D. Brockmann & L. Hufnagel & T. Geisel, 2006. "The scaling laws of human travel," Nature, Nature, vol. 439(7075), pages 462-465, January.
    10. Ehebrecht, Daniel & Heinrichs, Dirk & Lenz, Barbara, 2018. "Motorcycle-taxis in sub-Saharan Africa: Current knowledge, implications for the debate on “informal” transport and research needs," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 242-256.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yifeng Liu & Yuan Lai, 2024. "Analyzing jogging activity patterns and adaptation to public health regulation," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 51(3), pages 670-688, March.
    2. Kush Mohan Mittal & Marc Timme & Malte Schröder, 2024. "Efficient self-organization of informal public transport networks," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    3. Dumedah, Gift & Abass, Kabila & Gyasi, Razak M. & Forkuor, John Boulard & Novignon, Jacob, 2023. "Inefficient allocation of paratransit service terminals and routes in Ghana: The role of driver unions and paratransit operators," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Falchetta, G. & Noussan, M. & Hammad, A.T., 2021. "Comparing paratransit in seven major African cities: An accessibility and network analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Qi, Jie & Rong, Zhihai, 2013. "The emergence of scaling laws search dynamics in a particle swarm optimization," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(6), pages 1522-1531.
    3. Ferreira, A.S. & Raposo, E.P. & Viswanathan, G.M. & da Luz, M.G.E., 2012. "The influence of the environment on Lévy random search efficiency: Fractality and memory effects," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(11), pages 3234-3246.
    4. Marina E Wosniack & Marcos C Santos & Ernesto P Raposo & Gandhi M Viswanathan & Marcos G E da Luz, 2017. "The evolutionary origins of Lévy walk foraging," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(10), pages 1-31, October.
    5. Toru Nakamura & Toru Takumi & Atsuko Takano & Fumiyuki Hatanaka & Yoshiharu Yamamoto, 2013. "Characterization and Modeling of Intermittent Locomotor Dynamics in Clock Gene-Deficient Mice," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(3), pages 1-8, March.
    6. Lourdes Diaz Olvera & Didier Plat & Pascal Pochet, 2020. "Looking for the obvious: motorcycle taxi services in Sub-Saharan African cities," Post-Print halshs-02182855, HAL.
    7. Nauta, Johannes & Simoens, Pieter & Khaluf, Yara, 2022. "Group size and resource fractality drive multimodal search strategies: A quantitative analysis on group foraging," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 590(C).
    8. Diaz Olvera, Lourdes & Plat, Didier & Pochet, Pascal, 2020. "Looking for the obvious: Motorcycle taxi services in Sub-Saharan African cities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Alexander Maye & Chih-hao Hsieh & George Sugihara & Björn Brembs, 2007. "Order in Spontaneous Behavior," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 2(5), pages 1-14, May.
    10. Xiang Liu & Feicheng Ma, 2013. "Transfer and distribution of knowledge creation activities of bio-scientists in knowledge space," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(1), pages 299-310, April.
    11. E P Raposo & F Bartumeus & M G E da Luz & P J Ribeiro-Neto & T A Souza & G M Viswanathan, 2011. "How Landscape Heterogeneity Frames Optimal Diffusivity in Searching Processes," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(11), pages 1-8, November.
    12. Kemajou, Armel & Jaligot, Rémi & Bosch, Martí & Chenal, Jérôme, 2019. "Assessing motorcycle taxi activity in Cameroon using GPS devices," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Tomassini, Marco, 2016. "Lévy flights in neutral fitness landscapes," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 448(C), pages 163-171.
    14. Baronchelli, Andrea & Radicchi, Filippo, 2013. "Lévy flights in human behavior and cognition," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 101-105.
    15. Boschetti, Fabio & Vanderklift, Mathew A., 2015. "How the movement characteristics of large marine predators influence estimates of their abundance," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 313(C), pages 223-236.
    16. Li, Lili & Li, Xiaohan & Yu, Senbin & Li, Xiaojia & Dai, Jiaqi, 2022. "Unbalanced usage of free-floating bike sharing connecting with metro stations," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 608(P1).
    17. Filippo Radicchi & Andrea Baronchelli & Luís A N Amaral, 2012. "Rationality, Irrationality and Escalating Behavior in Lowest Unique Bid Auctions," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, January.
    18. Priscila C A da Silva & Tiago V Rosembach & Anésia A Santos & Márcio S Rocha & Marcelo L Martins, 2014. "Normal and Tumoral Melanocytes Exhibit q-Gaussian Random Search Patterns," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(9), pages 1-13, September.
    19. Cavoli, Clemence, 2021. "Accelerating sustainable mobility and land-use transitions in rapidly growing cities: Identifying common patterns and enabling factors," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    20. Sumeet Kumar & Binxuan Huang & Ramon Alfonso Villa Cox & Kathleen M. Carley, 2021. "An anatomical comparison of fake-news and trusted-news sharing pattern on Twitter," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 109-133, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:92:y:2021:i:c:s0966692321000545. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-transport-geography .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.