[rts] Feed back

[Ranjith de Silva]

Dear Friends,

Sorry for not joining the discussion earlier as I was travelling. I give you
below some things based  on the practical experiences of ITDG, which may be
useful.
 
Rural Transport Services

Best Practices

I would rather call this as ‘best examples’ than ‘best practices’. For a
project or a proposed action plan to be a success should be based on
‘experience & failures’ or the constraints & problems faced by project
implementers. Therefore, I would like to contribute with examples & experiences
extracted from different countries based on projects with ITDG involvement.

IMT Services

The problem of introducing new IMTs to rural areas in the developing countries
is a challenge. One cannot simply replicate a successful model of one country
to another. This depends on several key factors. 
1.       The need

There should be a clearly identified need for the introduction of IMTs.     
Ultimately the wider dissemination is dependent on the acceptance of the
technology by the people.  
2.       Social attitude of the community

The IMTs to be introduced should be socially accepted and should have no
cultural barriers including the social factors concerning women.  
3.      Better Awareness

Before the implementation, all stakeholders should be well aware of the
benefits including politicians, government officials, local authority and
communities. The media people (both print & electronic) should be made aware of
this first and involve them in the process. Social and economic benefits shall
be calculated on the basis of utilizing the saved time for productive
activities, opportunities and new market exposures resulting from the use of
IMT.  
4.      Affordability

Affordability is important in terms of purchase & maintenance. Appropriate
methods such as credit facilities (through conventional & other means) capacity
building of workshop etc. should be made available.  
5.      Regulations

If the existing traffic regulations do not permit the use of IMTs (especially
motorised), appropriate changes should be recommended and worked out with
relevant authorities

Finally, the systematic disciplined operation of IMT services should be ensured
by building the capacities to service providers & users. If not, the service
provided by the operators will not operate to the satisfaction of the poor
users.

Examples 

Sri Lanka
The “Bajaj” three wheeled auto taxi

The local agents for this cheaper mode of taxi (Ms. David Pieris Motor Company,
Colombo, Sri Lanka) faced a big challenge & also stiff opposition from
conventional Taxi cars, in the late 1970’s, when they started selling the
Bajaj, imported from India.  In the first year the company sold only two units
and about 10 in the second. How ever, the users preferred these taxis to the
conventional one because of the much lower fares. The drivers faced stiff
resistance & threats from conventional taxi drivers and even faced physical
assaults. The time passed by and the importers started investing more on
promotional campaigns and as more users were looking for cheaper taxis.
Ultimately the conventional taxi drivers too bought three wheelers and every
corner of the country including rural areas are now flooded with more than
300,000 three wheelers. It took nearly two decades for the importers to come to
this stage.

Two wheel Tractor Trailer

It is more or less the same as the Bajaj, the use of a trailer coupled to a
Tractor tiller. These two wheeled tractors were imported to Sri Lanka as a
substitute to the four-wheeled tractor and for agricultural use. Most rural
areas of the country in Sri Lanka are agriculture dominated and the
introduction of the trailer served them two purposes, one for agriculture work
and the second to meet their travel needs. Once this was called the Mercedes of
the poor. Because of the simple technology involved in this, the trailer is now
adopted and made at village level small-scale workshops.

Kenya
Bicycles taxi (Boda_Boda) Groups

Use of bicycles as Taxis in East Africa is very common. ITDG experience in this
sector in West Kenya is that how these drivers were formed in to groups and
ensure a better service for the poor users. The capacity building of their
Bicycle Taxi Groups, enabled them to overcome certain problems they had with
local authorities & police. They could provide a satisfactory disciplined
service to their customers. Such as no liqueur consumption whilst in duty,
fixed charges, provide spare parts & repair services etc. This enabled them to
build a good image and more customers started to come to them & more taxis were
needed. The result was more employment for youth & reduced crime rates in the
areas. The groups acted as pressure Groups to win their rights with authorities
and were able to provide a friendly service to their customers.

Policy Advocacy
Sri Lanka

For ITDG the Sri Lanka, Transport programme is the only one, which has been
able to influence the government to adopt policies in favour of rural Transport
through the Lanka Forum on Rural Transport Development (LFRTD).
Through the influence of the representative of the Transport Planning of the
Treasury managed to allocate Rs. 10 million (US $ 143,000 approximately) for
the promotion of IMTs in 10 districts of Sri Lanka. When this gentleman retired
from the Government Service, there was no one representing the Treasury in the
LFRTD and the present person is against promoting the IMTs as he is not aware
at all of the nature of this programme and it’s objectives. Similarly as the
Commissioner of Motor Traffic (member of LFRTD) was suddenly replaced by
another, who was also against IMTs (Later, LFRTD has been able in convince
him). There are no journalists or media personal in the LFRTD. The media here
always give a wrong picture and create a negative public awareness. The media
should be made totally aware of the benefits of IMTs and finally the
politicians.

The opinions of the government officers & journalists and the public can always
change the attitude & policies of the politicians. 

Local authorities and decentralization

Under decentralized systems in the developing countries, it will be easy to
introduce transport interventions at the local level. The main reason behind
this is the lack of resources to develop transport & transport interventions at
rural levels. They always look for alternative methods to overcome this.
Technical assistance & appropriate applicable approaches with people’s
participation, have been welcomed by local authorities in Sri Lanka & Kenya.

Governments

The World Bank, Asian Development Bank etc. have to influence the governments
to implement appropriate approaches but has to be well aware of the consequence
mentioned above.

They could lay down condition such as community participation, provide
Transport Services in rural areas through non conventional means (where
conventional means are not possible) and provide access to main market routes
with appropriate transport means & infrastructure to the rural producers.

For instance a rural roads program could be funded through utilizing labour
based & all stake holders participated in the programmes at local levels.

Regards.

Ranjith

Ranjith de Silva
Senior Specialist - Transport
International Transport Programme
Intermediate Technology Development Group
South Asia Regional Office
No.5 Lionel Edirisinghe Mawatha
Kirulapone
Colombo 5
Sri Lanka

Telephone: (++ 94 1) 852149, 829412 - 5, (++ 94 74) 510238
Fax:    (++ 94 1) 856188
Email:  ranjith at itdg.lanka.net
Alternatives:
ranjith_itdg at hotmail.com
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