Ghana's Experimentation with Bus Rapid Transit Shapes Up...

Ghana's experimentation with Bus Rapid Transit is a misnomer; it's fully on course, with ads on radio on some stations in full swing. Wikipedia describes it thus:

Bus rapid transit (BRT) is a term applied to a variety of public transportation systems using buses to provide faster, more efficient service than an ordinary bus line. Often this is achieved by making improvements to existing infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling. The goal of these systems is to approach the service quality of rail transit while still enjoying the cost savings and flexibility of bus transit.^[1] The expression BRT is mainly used in North America; in Europe and Australia, it is often called a busway, while elsewhere, it may be called a quality bus.

The definition is all well and good--except that it excludes Africa. For all the chaos associated with Nigeria (celebrating its 50 years), it is one of the first African countries to have implemented BRT. A couple of months ago, Ghanaian policy-makers in the transport system had to go down to Lagos to take notes! Check out the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (http://www.lamata-ng.com/publictransport.htm) to see what I mean.


I took this picture of Mallam junction, en route to the Accra-Cape Coast highway. The above picture shows the beginning of the BRT. I write beginning specifically because there was a signboard on the road where you see the buses indicating that it is only for "dropping". Sadly, I saw private cars (including a diplomatic-licensed car) using that route--most likely to avoid traffic. Once it is in shape, this part of Accra is likely to reduce traffic considerably.

To be sure of Ghana's intentions on BRT, check out the Mass Metro Transit(MMT) website here: http://metromass.com/transit_system.htm.

All I have left to say is: bye-bye traffic!!!