| Rural people have insufficient mobility |
![]() Woman carrying wood to market in Ethiopia |
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| 'The missing middle' In sub-Saharan Africa, much rural transport involves walking or carrying. In some areas, handcarts are used for very short distance transport, while bicycles and animal-drawn carts provide wider circles of transport. Long distance transport by buses, lorries, pickups and 'bush-taxis' may be available on the main roads, although such motorised options are generally overcrowded and expensive relative to local incomes. Moving people and goods intermediate distances (say 20-50 km) can be particularly difficult and lack of access to appropriate medium-distance transport can constrain people from meeting, marketing, trading and producing efficiently. |
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Why do rural areas have fewer transport innovations? The development of local transport solutions is generally faster in urban areas, assisted by trade patterns, information flows, cultural diversity and year-round economic activity. A 'critical mass' of mutually-reliant transport users and support services develops quickly in towns so that innovation, assessment and adoption can be rapid. The use and diversity of local transport solutions is less in rural areas. This is particularly true in Sub-Saharan Africa. Processes of innovation and adoption take longer, affected by lower economic activity, lower availability of certain materials, fewer cultural exchanges, smaller information flows and higher seasonality of cash flows and transport demand. |
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