Statistics in transportation

Fri, 05 May 2017 11:36:29 +0000

By Dr Eustarckiel kazong

 Transportation touches on a lot of things that we do on a day-to-day basis. This covers how we travel from one place to the other and how goods are transported to the market.

A lot of information is collected for some of the transportation modes, such as aviation, highway, mass transit, pipeline, and rail. Transportation modes in Zambia are road, air, water and rail.  Detailed statistics are required for railways, roads and bridges, aerodromes, airports, inland waterways and maritime for decision making. Being a land-locked country, Zambia is dependent mainly on its transport network to various export and import destinations. The haulage of goods and supplies to various destinations across the country depends on our transport infrastructure. Transport infrastructure i.e. the length of transport networks and equipment rates i.e. the number of vehicles per inhabitant. There is a great need to collect and analyse credible data on the flow of passengers and freight in the country. Data is supposed to be collected and analysed on the availability various types of passenger cars, buses, and utility vehicles such as lorries [trucks]. Statistics can be calculated on the motorisation rate for passenger cars i.e. the number of passenger cars per inhabitant. In all these, statistical literacy is important.

Animal-drawn Transport

In Zambia, two-wheeled ox-carts are the main form of animal-drawn transport especially in rural areas. Sledges are also used in some parts of our country. Sledges without wheels are simple but people are discouraged from using them because they cause erosion. Statistics are required for determining all types of animal-drawn transport in the country. Let me now look at some of the common animal-drawn transport modes.

Ox-drawn sledges are the simplest and cheapest way of carrying loads using oxen, which will not accept a load on their backs. They are found in a number of rural districts, and are usually constructed by the ox owner using suitably-shaped branches of trees. Simple wooden sledges are used in certain rural areas in the country. They are made by joining two wooden beams in the form of a “V” or cutting a trunk or branches of a tree. These sledges are ox-drawn and are a cheap way of carrying loads. They are most commonly used in villages for agricultural activities, e.g. to carry a plough or bags of fertiliser or manure, which will not accept a load on their backs.

Ox-carts are another form of animal-drawn transport that is used in movement of agricultural inputs such as fertilisers from a house or depot to the crop fields. Additionally, harvested crops are transported back to the store/granary and to a local point of sale such as a buying point. In villages ox-carts are also used for firewood collection and for the transport of all sorts of building materials. Studies have shown that the use of ox-carts is directly associated with the use of the work animals for ploughing, and the cart is normally drawn by a pair of oxen. It is also feasible for a cart to be drawn by a single donkey. A donkey-drawn cart is a cheaper investment than an ox-cart, and the travel speed is faster. Statistics can be used to do a census of ox-carts in the country, their usage, distances covered etc.

Intermediate Means of Transport (IMT)

Intermediate Means of Transport (IMT) are defined as means of transport which are intermediate between the traditional mode of walking with loads carried on the head, shoulder or back and modern, conventional motor vehicles such as cars, pick-ups, trucks and buses.

Bicycles and motorcycles are used for personal travel to facilities outside the village, to a workplace and other functions as need arise. Bicycles are also used in small enterprise activities such as trading in crops, beer and other goods. It would be incomplete to deal with bicycles without reference to the City of Chipata. In Chipata bicycles provide affordable passenger-carrying services. Where crop marketing involves the local sale of small quantities of crops, these may be carried to the market by bicycle. Statistics can be used to determine how much is earned from the business of passenger-carrying services, census of all the bicycles in a particular district. The bicycle is the most common IMT in Zambia. In the past owning a bicycle was a symbol of high status in the village. In some cases a bicycle would be exchanged for cattle. In many countries, considerable status attaches to the ownership of a bicycle.

Wheelbarrows are also used in the transportation of goods. This is a single-wheeled load-carrier which allows a person to move a heavier load than is possible by head-loading. We see the usage of wheelbarrows in both rural and urban areas. Some of our young entrepreneurs have found it as a cheaper form of transportation of goods from one place to the other especially in our towns. Statistical use is required in determining where the need for this transport is, how much money is made in a day, types of goods transported etc.

Public service vehicle drivers and conductors use statistics in doing their business. Daily or weekly or monthly cash-in targets are given and recorded.

Drivers, Conductors and vehicle owners are able to determine if these targets are met. If not met they will find out why since this is a recording of numbers at a regular interval of a period of time. This is referred to as time-series in statistics. They will be able to judge their performance as they can determine the general behaviour of their cash-ins, which is referred to as trend in statistics. They are even able to tell when cash-ins are usually low and when they are usually high. Using statistics one can determine bus ridership and bus fleet size.

Bicycles

Bicycles and motorcycles are used for personal travel, predominantly by men, to facilities outside the village, to a workplace, and for social reasons. Bicycles are also used, and are economically effective, for small enterprise activities such as trading in crops, beer and other goods, and in one area of Uganda and the city of Chipata, to provide passenger-carrying services. Where crop marketing involves the local sale of small quantities of crops, these may be carried to market by bicycle.

Ox-carts

Animal-drawn carts, hauled by oxen or donkeys, are common in some African countries. They have the highest load capacity—in terms of the weight that can be carried, of any African IMT. They are also the most expensive type of non-motorised IMT in Africa. The carts can be made from wood or steel in factories or in small workshops. A common problem is to obtain suitable, efficient wheel/axle assemblies at a reasonable price. Carts are used primarily for agricultural transport purposes. The use of ox-carts is directly associated with the use of the work animals for ploughing, and the cart is normally drawn by a pair of oxen. It is also feasible for a cart to be drawn by a single donkey. A donkey-drawn cart is a cheaper investment than an ox-cart, and the travel speed is somewhat higher, although the payload is lower.

Means of Addressing Specific Tasks of Rural Transport

Data is required for addressing principal transport problems for typical rural areas such as: (i) water and firewood collection; (ii) crop production; (iii) crop marketing; (iv) access to economic and social services; and (v) non-agricultural income generation. Each of the principal tasks identified may be treated separately, the transport problems of crop production and crop marketing are related since farmers will not increase their output unless they are reasonably assured that they can market the additional surplus especially in the bumper harvest agricultural seasons. It is a fact that increases in the level of production of a particular crop generates a much greater increase in the marketing transport demand.  A problem faced in rural transport services creates an obstacle to economic and social development. In order to address part of poverty, improved access to social and economic facilities is necessary.

The number of registered vehicles, number of accidents, and number of fatalities are some of the statistics that are collected by the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) and also the Zambia Police. This is may be done on annual or quarterly or monthly basis. This enables detailed analysis and important decisions to be made. One of these detailed analyses is Road Density ratio that can be calculated for different types of roads in the country. Road density is the ratio of the total road length (km) in an area to the area’s total land area (km2).

In the field of transport, data car ownership can be collected. Car ownership is can be reflected in terms of the number of private cars owned per 100 persons in an area. Further statistical analyses can be done to determine any relationship between car ownership economic development but also considering factors that may play a role as well, for example, urban planning, and public transport supply.

Rail and water transportation systems

As articulated by the Hon. Minister of Transport and Communications in Parliament in March this year, the current railway transportation system in Zambia can be divided into two categories  first is existing railway network under the Zambia Railways Limited covering almost 1,000 km and the Tanzania/Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) which covers approximately 1,900 km. The second aspect of the railway network relates to the newly planned green-field projects that will link Zambia to several sea ports. This demonstrates the need to know the coverage emphasises the importance of knowing the rail transport system coverage distance. Amount of goods carried and number of passengers are also important areas for use of statistics.

In terms of water transport, it was reported that the network of Zambia’s inland waterways spans over 7,600 km. This includes, 547 km from the five major lakes, namely; Kariba, Mweru, Bangweulu, Tanganyika and Mweru Wantipa and 3,570 km from the five major rivers, namely; Zambezi, Kafue, Luangwa, Luapula and Chambeshi. This is data that can be used planning of services or interventions that may be provided to these areas.

Conclusion

There is need for using statistics to fully understanding the whole transportation equation. Haulage of goods and supplies to various destinations across the country which depends on our transport infrastructure requires a lot of statistics usage. We need to also take cognisance of animal-drawn transport using sledges and ox-carts used in some of our rural areas. There is need to regularly collect quality data on the use of bicycles, boats, vehicles, public service transport, sledges and ox-carts for rational decision making to be made. Without doubt, transportation plays a very important role in our daily lives. In the past, efforts to improve rural transport principally focused on building and maintaining roads. Attention must be given to the whole complex of rural access, mobility and household transport. Village-level transport is important in this and is an indispensable element for meeting the basic subsistence needs of rural households and poverty reduction.

 The Author is a lecturer in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Lusaka (UNILUS)