Barbara Gruehl Kipke

Bicycle Usage in Two Cities of Africa

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INTRODUCTION - Selection of Region of Study

Contrary to previous studies, this study not only considers bicycle usage, but also reasons for bicycle non-usage. For that reason Africa is especially suitable for further study. Only up to 3.5% of inhabitants of Africa own bicycles, whereas in Latin America the rate lies at 16% and in Asia it even reaches 40% (11, s.6). The insignificance of bicycles in Africa is usually explained by cultural or economic reasons, but these aspects alone are not sufficient reasons. An understanding of further aspects enables a need-oriented inclusion of the bicycle in transportation planning, which in most cases is still at the beginning in African countries.

Within Africa, West Africa was chosen because one finds there both the English as well as the French colonial influence, that had considerable influence in most parts of Africa.

Burkina Faso is described as one of the poorest African countries with 180US$/inhabitant (33). Nevertheless, bicycle usage is relatively high there. Chana, appears to be a comparatively rich country with 320 US$/inhabitant (33). Bicycle usage in Ghana is mainly restricted to the Northern region. It appears that for the purposes of this study Gross National Product per inhabitant is an inadequate indicator. The distribution of income within the country and within the city using Lorenz curves would reveal more interesting comparisons, but this information is unfortunately not available.

Since it is indispensable for the analysig of the survey to have reliable data on bicycle users in order to discover the reasons of usage, cities were chosen within Westafrica with a relatively high usage of bicycles. Thus both bicycle users as well as non-users are certain to be included in the survey. In the cities of Ouagadougou and Tamale this condition is fulfilled. 80% of the traffic volume on a main street of Ouagadougou was either bicycle or moped traffic whereas the percentage for both automotive traffic as well as pedestrian traffic was only 10% in each case (28, p.20). In a transport mode traffic count in Tamale it was found that the bicycle (at 24%) was the most common meant of transport on a main street (14, p.24).

The relevance of bicycle traffic planning is clearly recognizable in the cities of Ouagadougou and Tamale. The authorities are aware of this and have shown themselves cooperative. Field work is thus facilitated. The relatively short distance of approximately 300 km between the cities will be advantageous during the survey. A further advantage of choosing these cities is the existence of information, such as census data and traffic counts.