On the Issue of Lagos BRTs… part 1
In this article, I take a stab at analyzing Lagos BRT experience, describing pain points as felt by users and attempting to solve for that in a bid to upgrade the BRT experience for the average Lagos commuter.
If you live in Lagos, Nigeria, you would have developed this love-hate relationship with Lagos traffic in the sense that you don’t want to be in it but can’t seem to get away from it. With an estimated population of about 17.5 million people residing in Lagos, those who have to rely on public transport to move about seem to have drawn the shortest straw with Lagos traffic as there is first the hassle of catching a bus and then there is facing the congestion as you get on the road.
One of the ways the Lagos government has tried to curb traffic congestion within the state is with the introduction of the Bus Rapid Transit aka BRT which is steadily becoming the “preferred” mode of public transport in Lagos where the alternatives are either the Yellow “Danfo” buses or ride-sharing services like Uber.
The allure of this AC-fitted 40 seater bus is that it’s driven on dedicated lanes which automatically enables it to beat the traffic in comfortable style when compared to the yellow “danfo” buses and because it’s regulated by the government, it provides a more affordable alternative to ride-sharing services like Uber. BRTs are a welcome improvement to commuting within Lagos but due to the sheer number of Lagosians patronizing the service, it struggles to live up to its expectations as the solution for tackling the huge public transport predicaments of Lagos.
What are the challenges?
“How do you know the solution if you do not know the question?” — Anonymous
Before brainstorming through solutions to upgrading the BRT experience, I had to first know what I was solving for. I carried out a series of user interviews with a small focus group comprising of colleagues from work. The deciding factor in determining the ideal candidates was the frequency with which they used the BRT service, ideally 7 out of 10 times. The goal of the interview was to have a feel of the BRT experience as felt by its users and understand their pain points.
The interview process was basically 3 questions asking “When they commute with BRT?”, “Why they commute with BRT” and for them to “Describe their last experience with BRT, the good, the bad and the ugly”. From it, I was able to gather commonly that:
- 100% typically use the BRT to commute to and from work.
- 100% agreed that the BRT experience is comfortable, affordable and relatively safe which encourages continued usage.
- 100% mentioned that their only alternatives were between the yellow “danfo” bus and ride-sharing services (unless you drive).
On challenges,
- 100% mentioned not knowing when the next BRT bus was scheduled to arrive a major pain point.
- 100% described the wait time before being able to board a BRT as painfully long especially when you don’t know when the next bus is scheduled to arrive.
- 37.5% mentioned that it is difficult to ring the stop bell to indicate one’s stop and disembarking when the bus is really full (also, the bells seem to be positioned at odd locations in the bus).
- 25% complained about not having enough feedback when the stop bell is rung. Sometimes you don’t hear the bell ring and have to keep pressing it hoping that the driver stops at the next bus stop.
- 50% mentioned the frustration they feel when empty BRT buses pass by their bus stop without stopping. This causes agitation because they don’t know which bus is scheduled for which bus stop.
- 37.5% mentioned not liking having to stand in the BRT especially during long journeys or when the bus is packed full (there’s the feeling of being squashed).
- 50% complained about the customer service received from the BRT operators. Sometimes they go on strike without warning.
- 25% complained about not being able to save the BRT ticket to use for another day, once you buy a ticket, you have to use it.
- 50% complained about the ticket issuing process to commuters being too manual and too human dependent.
- 12.5% mentioned the frustration of boarding a BRT only to find out that some of the bus equipment (e.g. the AC unit) aren’t functioning and have to endure the inconvenience.
- 12.5% said the BRT entertainment sucked.
- 25% complained about not being able to find useful info, like the newly introduced card system, regarding transiting with the BRT buses.
Is there a solution here?
Q: If you could pick one challenge to solve what would it be?
Although I focused on interviewing colleagues from work, understanding their everyday experience with the BRT helped inform their major frustrations with the service and acts as a guide on what the most important thing to solve is.
From the challenges, the recurring themes that stand out are:
1) Not knowing the daily BRT schedule
2) Remaining in the dark about the status of the BRT operation on any given day
From these, the stand-out issues revolve around scheduling and lack of information and a way to solve for this is to provide a way to track the BRT buses. Being able to track these bus provides a way to solve these issues that are crippling the BRT service today and below is where I address what to solve for.
Scheduling
- When is the next BRT scheduled to arrive?
- Which is the next BRT scheduled to arrive?
- What is the scheduling of the day (per bus stop)?
- Are there any delays/ interruptions on today’s schedule?
I highlighted these as the most important things to solve for initially as 100% of the survey felt frustrated that the BRT system didn’t have a scheduling system and wished there was one.
Information
- What’s happening at this bus stop? (Live updates / Alerts)
* Is there a large queue at the bus stop?
* Is the BRT operational today?
* Is the last bus loading?
* Are there any major accidents along my route?
* Are there reports of theft or violence along my route? - FAQS
* What are the BRT routes?
* How can we use the BRT card system?
* What other information do I need to know about the service?
Solving for this will be in two phases. The first phase solves to keep one up-to-date with live updates/alerts and the second phase solves for onboarding a new person to the BRT system (this is useful for newcomers to Lagos).
Solving for lack of information will come after solving for scheduling. Naturally, a user will want to first know the time schedule of the buses and then determine which of the scheduled time is the better of the lot.
What will a solution look like?
For this article, I picked being able to track the BRT buses as the initial thing to solve for because it does address the major pain points by providing information and live updates on the BRT schedule and operation for any given day.
In my next article, I will be describing in more details the features that will go into building the BRT tracker to help solve these initial pain points and a roadmap for its possible future.
**update:
On the Issues of Lagos BRTs… part 2
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please don’t forget to share and applaud 👏 👏 👏
If you had to pick one challenge with the BRT experience to solve, what would it be?
