#11 Hacking transport PPE, makeshift style
Or, 5 Ps but it takes 2 to moto
Hey you,
Welcome back to Makeshift Mobility, your fortnightly newsletter on innovations in informal transportation.
It’s been nearly 130 days of quarantine and social distancing where I live. I think my ennui is just a few days younger than that. How are you holding up?
Quick diversion before we dive into our regular menu: I think podcasts are a godsend vs. ennui. What do you listen to that are not about transportation?
I heart Roman Mars’ 99% Invisible. One of the recent episodes is on the forgotten history of paramedics and emergency medical services. TIL that it all started with a community service organization of young black men serving the poor hill district of Pittsburgh. (OK, Mars does go into transport issues. The episode on the invention of jaywalking is a classic.)
I also really love 99%’s Articles of Interest series. Avery Trufelman moved from 99% to Vox/Curbed and her new podcast is called Nice Try. The opening series Utopian is an urban geek’s dream. I have to confess, I think I am audio crushing on Trufelman’s voice.
Are there any podcaster voices you particularly find pleasing? Do share.
Since my last letter to you, I’ve been fascinated with how motorcycle taxis are trying to battle coronavirus in terms of protection, perception, and policy.
These three Ps are deeply intertwined but let me start with protection from transmission because there are interesting contraptions involved that emerge from the same makeshift logic.
These were simultaneously invented in different places around the world.
The mother of these inventions?
Well, you can’t do social distancing between the driver and the passenger on a motorcycle taxi. (Duh.) So, in theory, there must be some sort of barrier between the driver and the passenger if we are going to prevent transmission. (Yes, I know there’s helmets, but bear with me.)
Two variants have emerged: modifying the motorcycle or modifying the driver's uniform.
The hardware hack
Here’s three versions of the same install-a-shield-on-the-motorcycle tech:
Uganda: Technical teams from the works ministry and Makerere University inspect the safety shield invented by bodaboda operators. Photo and caption from newvision.co.ug
Philippines: Iloilo provincial government employees show how the divider works. Photo from the Iloilo Public Information Office
Dominican Republic: Motoconchos with corona-resistant solution. Photo and caption via Sosuanews.com
There’s the version from the bodaboda operators in Uganda, which Nile Post credits to a Mr. Dickson Ngirani. (Story posted on June 30.)
Iloilo province in the Philippines credits its governor with inventing the same kind of shield. (June 5.)
Motoconcho operators in the Dominican Republic came up with the same solution. (April 23.)
Who do you think deserves the credit?
The backpack hack
Then, there’s the shield-on-the-driver invention, deployed by ride hailing services in South East Asia. The idea is to strap a shield directly on the driver, like a backpack. Here are some examples from GoJek and Grab.
Photos from Tempo.co
Angkas from Metro Manila has its own version, which IMHO, seems a little more sturdy.
No idea how much any of these cost or if it is the ride hail company or the driver that bears it. But it does limit the number of passengers to just one. Esp. the hardware shield.
Bodabodas, okadas, and motoconchos have been known to carry more than one passenger at a time. The hardware hack means less passengers which means less income for the already precarious drivers. It does improve safety. Maybe.
We still have to see what the hardware or the backpack does for aerodynamics.
(This video posted on Facebook shows the “fixed” hardware hack seems to be whacking the passenger’s face. Do you want to ride this?)
Of course…
…I could find NO documented cases of coronavirus transmission via moto taxis. (Arguably, the air stream while in motion disperses droplets. Also, like you said, the driver and the passenger are ALREADY wearing helmets.)
Perception and policy
These shields are really just a perception game.
When it comes to government policy, moto taxis are struggling with more than just coronavirus transmission.
Most cities, like Luanda in Angola, banned moto taxis as part of the pandemic lockdown, but other cities banned moto taxis outright even before this crisis.
Nigeria passed its Transport Reform Law in 2018. As a consequence, the governor of the State of Lagos banned okadas in 2019.
Neighboring Ghana passed regulations in 2012 that say, "The licensing authority shall not register a motorcycle to carry a fare-paying passenger." Of course, the law was largely ignored.
“Despite the law, the motorbike passenger service (Okada) has become a widely-patronised means of transport for people in the cities as well as hard-to-get parts of the country.”
The pandemic just gave the authorities an excuse to come down hard.
The bans have been met with protests.
Which I guess adds a fourth P to our story.
Despite demonstrations, Lagos’ governor was adamant and unapologetic. He said there was “no heading back” even as the COVID-19 crisis hit.
In Kampala, capital of Uganda, at least two bodaboda drivers tried to set themselves on fire to protest route regulations.
In Yaounde, capital of Cameroon, drivers blocked off roads to protest a ban on moto taxis in the central districts. (November 2019.)
Most of the bans are premised on traffic safety—supposedly to prevent accidents or injuries. (Of course, there are more deaths and injuries from car crashes.)
There are also street crimes perpetrated via motorbikes—purse or jewelry snatching. But that’s pretty prevalent, like this one captured on camera in Delhi:
“A woman and her daughter were targeted by chain-snatchers in the national capital. However, the brave duo foiled the robbery attempt and caught hold of one of the chain-snatchers. They forced the culprit off the bike even as his partner fled. Meanwhile, passers-by gathered and they started beating the chain-snatcher up. The entire incident was caught on closed-circuit television cameras.” Video and caption from the Hindustan Times.
In the Philippines, it was more complex and more grim.
There were motorcycle riding assassins who rode in pairs, or as they call it, “riding-in-tandem.”
The Philippine National Police (PNP) does not maintain a consistent database of this type of targeted killings. But police statistics indicate that riding-in-tandem attacks killed 125 people from October 10 to November 5, 2017. Since then, up to May 21, 755 more people were killed by what police now call “motorcycle riding suspects.”
That’s an average of four killings a day.
(There are videos that capture some killings. They are on the net and are disturbing.)
The Philippine government, which is struggling with a coherent transport policy to begin with, had a confused response.
First, the local governments banned face masks and full helmets. Then, they banned passengers (driver only). Then, they allowed pilots of motorcycle ride hail services (Angkas, JoyRide, and Move) but then shut down the pilots and wouldn’t restart them.
All of this before coronavirus hit.
When it was pointed out that banning passengers even on private/non-ride hail motorcycles was anti-poor, they relented and allowed passengers but only for private use. Of course, the driver and passenger would have to prove that they were related.
They decreed only married couples would be allowed to ride motorcycles together.
Not sure how they imagined enforcing that.
The internet hit back with fun suggestions like couples needing to travel with wedding pictures.
Why is this important?
This is a livelihood issue, and a livelihood issue for young men who otherwise could not find employment. (Historically, young men + no employment = an explosive mix. Plus, do you remember how the Arab Spring was started when Mohamed Bouazizi, a fruit vendor in Tunisia, set himself on fire?)
Motorcycle taxis have been around for a while. Mostly they served rural and hinterland areas (e.g. “border to border”) or inaccessible parts of the city. But ride hail apps have supersized the services. The scale of growth is staggering.
The numbers
Dr. Zia Wadud’s recently released paper on The effects of e-ridehailing on motorcycle ownership in an emerging-country megacity offers some numbers on the scale of motorcycle taxi services:
…as many as 104 cities in Sub-Saharan Africa (out of a sample of 203 cities with a population larger than 100,000) had motorcycle taxis in operation. (Emphasis mine.)
…Like other informal transport, they fill an important void in transport service provisions in most areas where they operate. In Bangkok, an estimated 200,000 motorcycle taxis served around 4 to 6 million trips every day in 2013, although recent estimates suggest the number of motorcycle taxis are as high as 300,000. Similar numbers are quoted for Ugandan capital Kampala, although only half are registered with the authorities. There are an estimated 8 Million Okada drivers in Nigeria and around a million in Kenya, while Tanzania has more than 800,000 motorcycle taxis.
The dollars
Then, there’s the money. Or, our 5th P = pfunding. (Sorry, that’s a planner joke.)
More moto taxis mean more money for blitzscaling mobility unicorns.
Ventures Max .ng, ORide, and Gokada have received millions from American, Japanese, and Chinese investors to shift the continent’s motorcycle-taxi markets to on-demand mobility.
The three startups have been in a race for capital and market share — with the streets of Lagos serving as a competition course for developing platforms that can scale in Africa.
Gokada raised $5.3 million in May. Max.ng raised a $7 million Series A round in June 2019, with Yamaha on board, to pilot renewable energy powered e-motos in Africa.
Motorcycle-taxi business ORide rattled competitors in Nigeria in 2019 when its Chinese owned parent — Opera — rallied $170 million in VC for Opera’s digital service verticals in Nigeria, including ORide.
Still with me?
Lots more to tell on the moto taxi story. Like the grisly murder in NYC of the founder of Gokada. Seems like no connection but his company was hit hard by the moto taxi regs.
Then, there’s moto taxi drivers shifting to delivery services. Helping vaccine delivery. Or, delivering condoms during quarantine!
But I’ve gone on long enough. We’ll save the other stories for another day.
Before you go, I do have an ask: could you think of at least one friend who shares our mutual geek love for transportation?
Could you forward this email to them? They might enjoy it, too.
Laters.
I’m Benjie de la Peña, a transport geek and urban nerd. I live in Seattle surrounded by all this tech money, none of it for me.
I think a lot about strategic design, institutional shifts, and innovation.
I believe makeshift mobility could be the single greatest lever to de-carbonize the urban transport sector -but only if we can organize. If I had my druthers, the world would have a international, inter-city think tank dedicated to improving informal transportation.