Boda Boda in Uganda: The nurtured love-hate relationship

By Amanda Ngabirano

I have been told several times that this topic is very political, and that it should be left to the politicians. We have also read and experienced that it is such a risky mode of transport. 

In their Early Learning Guide piece, Vivian Agaba and Jacquiline Emodek, in the Saturday Vision, October 31st 2015 (pg. 26), clearly represented the perceptions of some key stakeholders regarding “boda boda” transport in relation to children going to and from school. 

Of late, this mode of transport has also been associated with crime especially in the urban centers. What if it was all that, so what? What beats the “boda boda” on regularity, convenience and speed? It also has a social component where by the passenger and the operator feel so close to each other that they pick up conversations, and this, the sociologists will tell you, is good. 

They are also always supported by the passengers, who is aware of how unsafe they are. Such support as using the passenger’s hand to indicate the direction they are taking is a gesture of “one people on the move” or “united in risk”. 

It is not a secret that our public transport is far from being organized and regulated to acceptable standards, and so one will not easily identify a majority mode which takes him/her closest to the entry of their home, except the “boda boda”. 

So isn’t it worth the risk? The “boda boda” is special and loved. But don’t we pay more, (in terms of fares), for the same distances in a commuter taxi? Although a lot has already been said and written about this topic, there is still so much untold. 

But just consider a child going to and from school by a “boda boda”. Firstly and luckily, the fight against illiteracy in Uganda is so serious that even the illiterate will sacrifice their all for their children not to suffer the same “fate” as themselves. 

Despite being an expensive mode, for those whose children have to go by “boda bodas”, one may correctly argue that they sacrifice their children’s lives for their education. 

Agaba and Emodek, whose article is being referred to correctly advise that despite the fact that “boda bodas” are fast because of their ability to weave through traffic jam, parents should desist from using them because they are ridden recklessly. 

From the reason given, many will concur with me that clearly the boda boda is not the problem but rather the traffic jam. 

According to the same piece, police advised parents to avoid using “boda bodas” saying few motorcyclists are disciplined. And that they should use safe means to transport their children to school or take the children themselves other than leaving them to go on their own. Is it better then that the whole family perishes at once? 

Anyway, the problem here is the motorcyclists’ discipline. But which means are safe? From the article and our experience, not even commuter taxis, private cars and shuttle vans are safe. 

How I wish the concerned authorities focused on the real solution since we seem to know the real problem. The starting point in this case is to appreciate that the “boda boda” is loved for some of what a good transport system ought to offer, and is hated mainly because of “ONLY” the risks involved. 

I definitely do not mean that dying or suffering serious injuries are insignificant but the immediate travel demand is so significant in our lives that we should ignore it at our own peril. The continued use and preference for “boda bodas” is a result of nurturing an ineffective transport system, especially in Uganda’s urban centers. 

The state in which they operate is not only risky for their passengers, but also for their operators and other road users, hence the hate part of it. My assumption is that the government too loves and hates the “boda boda”. 

But for lack of a better word, why is it flourishing moreover in such a disorganized manner? Is it indeed political? It is just because of the ineffective mobility system. An effective mobility system ought to provide for all in terms of choice, affordability, convenience and regularity in a safe and integrated manner. 

I am afraid it is not ONLY the Kilometers of roads tarmacked that matters but the overall efficiency of the system. 

As Uganda, like most of African countries gets rapidly urbanized, it is not only shameful but also detrimental that we have ignored the stain of inefficient and unsafe means of transport in the image of our urban centers to the extent that we seem to be jeopardizing the efforts of our other key development goals, like education for all.  

We have found it easier to blame people and advising them not use their choice of mode without providing accessible alternatives for all or regulating the options they have. 

For whatever reasons, the “boda boda” challenge remains, and I hope I am wrong, but all key stakeholders seem to be stuck with it and have opted to look on. 

As I conclude, what if it was political, I wish it indeed was because politics should be about the people. As the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle is quoted, “politics is an ethical activity” and is “concerned with creating a just society”. 

In terms of mobility, the “boda boda” challenge and all the nasty experiences in our general mobility system is representative of how unjust, selfish, short sighted and disintegrated our planning approach has been/is. 

And because we are already trapped, we urgently need simple corrective measures like “boda boda” operation regulations and formalization. We need high capacity public transport especially for Kampala city in order to reduce traffic jam as a result of increased private car use. 

But the long term solution is to deliberately plan and implement an effective and integrated transportation system, widening the modal choice, while cautiously linking it with spatial planning, without forgetting behavioral change and enforcement. 

The writer is an urban & regional planning lecturer at Makerere University