ASSESSMENT OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION PROBLEM: THE CASE OF ADDIS ABABA CITY

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to assess the public transportation problem in Addis Ababa City specifically code-3 minibus taxis. Pertinent data were collected from different stakeholders (passengers, taxi drivers, public transport authority operation workers and line-up facilitators or Tera Askebariwoch) through questionnaire survey and interview. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and thematic analysis were used to analyze quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Based on the research findings, the major problems facing public transportation, specifically code-3 minibus taxis in Addis Ababa are long waiting time to get minibus taxis, paying more than stipulated fare, cutting the trip, not working on their assigned line, and disciplinary problem from drivers, transport authority operation workers and line-up facilitators. For the above problems to exist there are different underlying factors. Among those factors the main one is poor government management system, road and infrastructure problem, traffic congestion, lack of modern technology, lack of societal awareness or empowerment towards their right and shortage of vehicle, lack of integration among different stake holders.Thus, the researcher concluded that there is a great gap between demand and supply of public transportation specifically code-3 minibus taxis in Addis Ababa city. Based on this, the researcher recommends that to overcome the above mentioned public transportation problems, the government should give high emphasis to transport infrastructure, improve its transport management system by using modern technology, integration of all stakeholders, societal awareness creation to struggle for their right to stop those illegal works and towards the use of mass transport, increasing the number of mass transport and applying mass transport lane to each sub city and others.