The role of paratransit in sustainable urban mobility: A scoping review

Abstract

Meeting the mobility needs of urban residents using formal transport systems in developing country cities such as Accra is often fraught with challenges. Paratransit modes have thus, over the years, tended to fill the void created by the shortcomings of formal systems. Their dominance is however often associated with various setbacks which often militate against achieving sustainable urban mobility in developing countries' towns and cities such as Accra. The quest to develop sustainable urban transport modes has often led to marginalisation and outlawing of paratransit operations in these regions despite their notable contributions to urban mobility. This scoping review presents a deeper understanding of paratransit's role by addressing: its broader scope and meaning; its contribution to first- and last-mile connectivity; how it serves underserved populations; its operational strengths and weaknesses; the extent to which it complements formal transport systems and its general overview in the Ghanaian context. These findings are expected to set the stage for further empirical study of how paratransit can be integrated into formal urban transport systems to achieve sustainable public urban transport in Accra given the failure of previous attempts to implement the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems in the city.