Highlights Two recent trends around motorcycle taxis services in East Africa are identified: digitalization and electrification. Electrification is mostly associated with positive impacts covering a spectrum of environment, economics, health, and social-related benefits. The benefits of digitalization with regard to road safety, personal security, and economic benefits are more uncertain or contested. Both trends are marked by limitations, in the form of high volatility for digitalization, and of very small fleets still for electrification. These limitations impact their capacity to address sustainability challenges with motorcycle taxis in East Africa. The study identifies interlinkages between digitalization, electrification, and regulation with regard to data. It indicates conditions under which data-sharing requirements could partially help address the dearth of data on motorcycle taxi services in these three cities. The study calls for longitudinal analysis of the impacts of digitalization and electrification, refining the diversity of impacts, interlinkages, policy answers and using complementary methods, and identifies four further research gaps.

    Abstract The number of motorcycle taxis has soared in East African cities over the last decades, filling a gap in mobility needs while providing revenue opportunities to drivers. However, poor road safety combined with contribution to carbon emissions and air pollution creates a sustainability conundrum, which has led governments to control or repress the mode, yet without much success. After reviewing the characteristics and regulation of motorcycle taxis in Nairobi, Kigali, and Kampala, this study investigates the existence and impacts of two recent trends: digitalization and electrification. A comprehensive approach is adopted with a systematic review of the literature and policies, completed by field research and key informant interviews. We find out that electrification is mostly associated with positive impacts covering a spectrum of environment, economics, health, and social-related benefits, while the benefits of digitalization are more uncertain or contested. Impacts are however limited for both at the time of study as digitalization is highly volatile and electrification nascent. In conclusion, the paper identifies an interlinkage between the trends via the example of data, and further key research needs.


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    Titel :

    Motorcycle taxis in transition? Review of digitalization and electrification trends in selected East African capital cities


    Beteiligte:

    Erscheinungsdatum :

    2023-08-05




    Medientyp :

    Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)


    Format :

    Elektronische Ressource


    Sprache :

    Englisch




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