(Translated by https://www.hiragana.jp/)
The potential role of mobile phone technology in rural motorcycle and three-wheeler taxi services in Africa
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/transp/v44y2021i1p30-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The potential role of mobile phone technology in rural motorcycle and three-wheeler taxi services in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Darren Divall
  • Tendayi Kureya
  • Tom Bishop
  • Caroline Barber
  • Cathy Green
  • Sam Clark

Abstract

Over the last two decades, motorcycle and motorised three-wheeler taxis have become important means of transport in many sub-Saharan African countries, including in rural areas. However, the emerging role of mobile phone technology in improving mobility in rural areas is currently under-explored in the literature. This paper presents the findings of a small-scale research study that was undertaken into the use of mobile phone technology in the context of motorcycle and three-wheeler taxi use, and its potential to improve rural access. Informed by a literature review, the research focuses on four countries: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with riders of motorcycle and motorised three-wheeler taxis and the developers of mobile phone-enabled transport technologies. Mobile technology linked to the utilisation of motorcycle and three-wheeler taxis is increasing, but ‘ride-hailing’ applications (apps) are likely to be limited to urban areas for the foreseeable future due to various disincentives to their use in rural areas. The study identifies several promising innovations that combine the use of motorcycles and three-wheelers with mobile technology to increase rural people’s access to essential services and opportunities. These have the potential to be scaled up or expanded to other countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Darren Divall & Tendayi Kureya & Tom Bishop & Caroline Barber & Cathy Green & Sam Clark, 2021. "The potential role of mobile phone technology in rural motorcycle and three-wheeler taxi services in Africa," Transportation Planning and Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(1), pages 30-44, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:transp:v:44:y:2021:i:1:p:30-44
    DOI: 10.1080/03081060.2020.1851446
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/03081060.2020.1851446
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/03081060.2020.1851446?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:taf:transp:v:44:y:2021:i:1:p:30-44. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/GTPT20 .

    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.