Delivered during the 2016 Southern African Transport Conference (SATC), held in Pretoria, South Africa.

1. SOUTHERN AFRICAN TRANSPORT
CONFERENCE
Preliminary findings:
UNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT
PROGRAMME – SHARE THE ROAD
GLOBAL NMT POLICY REPORT
6 JULY 2016
PRETORIA SOUTH AFRICA

2. 01 INTRODUCTION

3. • Why do countries need NMT
policies or commitments?
• What makes a good NMT
policy?
• Is there a correlation
between policies and safety?
• Do policies lead to safer
roads? More NMT?
• Why does change seem
slow?

4. 02 METHODS

5. 5
OUR STUDY
• Our focus – developing and emerging countries / economies
• Mode shares of up to 80% NMT
• Marginal NMT recognition - whether in policy and legislation,
or in budget, resource and space allocation
• Worst global road safety record
• Pedestrians and cyclists most at risk
OUR OUTPUT
• Index or matrix: correlating NMT commitment with NMT
safety/performance
• Narrative analysis, 200 page report
• 30 countries: Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe (for ref)

6. 6
Excluded from our study: Universal design (a study on its own)

7. 7
KEY QUESTIONS
• What is the level of NMT commitment within the countries
surveyed?
• How comprehensive are these NMT commitments?
• What are the core thematic gaps within the documentation?
• Are NMT users safer in countries with high levels of NMT
commitments?
• Is there a link between countries with significant NMT
commitment and countries undergoing BRT / public transport
transformation in any way?
• Can we tentatively propose a link at all between the existence
of significant NMT commitment and a better NMT
environment?

8. 8
OUR METHOD
• Literature review - what makes a good NMT policy?
• Interviews / online survey – mailed to around 200 selected
(and snowball sampled) people; plus expert input and
additional research
• Questions geared to asses NMT Commitment plus NMT
performance (mode share, safety, etc)
• Weighting of indicators (pair-wise comparison by expert team)

9. 9
A course or principle of action adopted or proposed by a government, party,
business, or individual.
Synonyms: plans, strategy, approach, system, guidelines…
WHAT IS AN NMT COMMITMENT?

10. 03 FINDINGS

11. LITERATURE
REVIEW
• Combination of
standalone &
integrated NMT policies
• Political will
• Clear, measurable
goals and objectives
• Fine-grained local
strategies
• A variety of
supporting policies
• Traffic calming or speed- and
vehicle-reduction interventions
• Civil society involvement

12. OVERALL, countries
have made a start
There is national recognition of
NMT as a mode.
Not yet sufficient:
• Funding
• Political will & deep-seated
belief in NMT modes
• Supporting policies
• Local action plans
• Monitoring, verification,
evaluation
• Technical knowledge
(infrastructure)

13. • NMT is overwhelmingly
the major mode
• Bicycle transport is a minor
mode in Africa - with exception
of Zambia and Malawi (up to 90%
of traffic on rural roads)
• Cycle rickshaw traffic a major mode
in India and Bangladesh (up to
35%)
MODE SHARE

14. • A significant risk
(we can’t talk about
NMT being a ‘healthy’
mode in our surveyed
countries…)
• In Malawi for eg,
70% of crashes involve
pedestrians or cyclists
• Facilities seldom provided
RISK

15. LEVEL OF NMT
COMMITMENT
• Every country surveyed
had at least one national
NMT commitment
(minor to significant)
• Uganda, SA, Mexico, Argentina
– standalone national NMT
policies

16. DEPTH OF
COMMITMENT
• Broad, general statements (eg
putting people first)
Themes
• Stating benefits of NMT
• Stating challenges
• Ideological statements – eg access
and equity
• Focus on women
• Importance of inter-modality
• Purchase assistance
• Commitment to build facilities

17. LOCAL NMT
COMMITMENT
• Effective NMT
action is at local level.
• India, SA & Brazil req
cities develop NMT plans
• Other cities in Ghana,
Namibia, Argentina and
Kenya > local NMT plans
• Few differentiate btwn
walking &cycling planning:
Cape Town, Medellin, Sao
Paulo, Delhi

18. •
Public transport
improvement,
transformation or
restructuring programmes
appear to
play an important role
in raising awareness within
government about the value
of NMT (as cost-effective feeder
modes, for eg) and at
times offer a vehicle for
infrastructure funding.
PUBLIC
TRANSPORT

19. CONCERNS &
GAPS
• Poor monitoring,
verification, evaluation
• Few able to quantify,
measure or track goals or
‘promises’
• Mostly measure outputs,
not outcomes and impacts
• Few policies translated
into action-oriented, measurable
strategies
• Santiago (Chile) and Nairobi (Kenya)
notable exceptions

20. BICYCLE
INFRASTRUCTURE
• Most countries do
not evaluate or
re-asses facilities.
• Every country that has
done so (university or
funder request), found
them to be poor quality,
in the wrong place,
dangerous or otherwise lacking:
• South Africa (Cape Town)
• Brazil (Curitiba and Rio)
• Ghana, Accra
• Uganda (Kampala)
• Nepal (Kathmandu)

21. BEHAVIOUR CHANGE
• Few cities, countries or
regions plan beyond
infrastructure,
facilities or ‘improved
enforcement’ – paying little
attention to the nuances of
behaviour change – with
the exception of Windhoek,
Namibia.

22. SUBSTANTIVE
DATA GAPS
Little comparable data
Few respondents able to
provide:
• Analysis of user needs
• Mode share or fatality data
• Database of infrastructure
• Disaggregated NMT data
• Risk ratio, motorization,
trip rates, etc
• Policy details
• .

23. CIVIL SOCIETY
Almost all involve
bicycle transport,
not walking
Why? Perhaps:
• More expensive to buy,
need assistance
• Possibilities for micro-
enterprise
• Facilitates greater levels of
mobility (longer trips, more
load-bearing, greater impact)
• Emergency health assistance,
rural load-carrying

24. 05 DRAFT INDEX
Not to be cited

25. 25
PERFORMANCE VS COMMITMENT
INDEX
INDEX based on the development of two indices that measure
NMT commitment, and NMT performance
The matrix shows four quadrants within which each country is
positioned:
4. Weak NMT performance (safety), strong policy commitment
3. Weak NMT performance (safety), weak policy commitment
2. Strong NMT performance (safety), weak policy commitment
1. Strong NMT performance (safety), strong policy commitment

26. 26

27. 06 DISCUSSION

28. 28
ANSWERS (1) …
What is the level of NMT commitment within the countries
surveyed
• Every country has some national commitment – of varying
degrees, some simply a few paragraphs in a national transport
policy, some, a standalone policy
How comprehensive are these NMT commitments?
• Few are comprehensive enough, and few include measurable
and verifiable goals, objectives and action plans to which the
authority is held accountable
What are the core thematic gaps within the documentation?
• Most countries ‘say the right things…’

29. 29
ANSWERS (2) …
Are NMT users safer in countries with high levels of NMT
commitments?
Not yet, not as far as our data shows – largely because:
• Insufficiently nuanced data
• NMT commitments are relatively new
• NMT commitments are too broad, insufficiently measurable, or
not yet at local level
Is there a link between countries with significant NMT
commitment and countries undergoing BRT / public transport
transformation in any way?
• Seems so, yes…

30. WHY?
This is not new –
– agencies
(eg World Bank)
been reporting this
since 70s
• Motorisation seen
as ‘the modern way’,
evidence of success
• NMT ‘gets in the way’
• Capacity and skills concerns
• Rapid motorisation
• Corruption
• Backlog of poor provision

31. 07 NEXT

32. • REPORT IS AT PEER-
REVIEW STAGE
• PREPARATION OF
‘SUMMARY’ VERSION
• LAUNCH AT HABITAT
III, QUITO, OCTOBER
2016

33. CONTACT ME AT
GAIL@GAILJENNINGS.CO.ZA
FOR A COPY OF THE REPORT
(INCLUDING DATA, GRAPHS
AND NARRATIVE