As the world grapples with climate change, and struggles daily to adapt to the sad reality, while creating relevant technologies to mitigate the impact, the transport sector deserves more attention because of its inherent flexibility factor when used as a carbon offset strategy. For example, in the United States of America, where transport accounts for more than 30 per cent of carbon emissions (carbon emitted into the atmosphere is the major cause of climate change), the American Public Transportation Association said that public transport in the US saves approximately 1.4 billion gallons of petrol and about 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. Over there, the train system is the most efficient in many ways, typically by emitting less carbon and using less fuel per passenger than buses. Then, the next system is the Bus Rapid Transit, which runs extra-long buses in dedicated lanes. A 2006 study by the Breakthrough Technologies Institute found that a BRT system in a medium-sized US city could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 650,000 tons during a 20-year period.
Over here in Nigeria, we do not have a functional train system as a means of public transport, but thankfully, we have a fledgling BRT system. Lagos has the only success story, so far. The first phase of the Lagos BRT, which is owned by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, was opened on March 24, 2008. It goes from Mile 12 through Ikorodu Road and Funsho Williams Avenue up to CMS; with a corridor of 22km in length. Two operators are offering their services to the Lagos BRT: the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers Cooperative and the Asset Management Company owned by the Lagos State Government, known as LAGBUS. In Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, there is an ongoing, but ridiculous, attempt to institute a BRT corridor along the Masaka-Maraba-Garki/Wuse road. The attempt has continued to fail because the route consists of a very narrow road.
In spite of all its criticisms, Lagos BRT remains a success because it is a platform not only for ensuring that the city does not experience urban traffic insanity, but also save the citizens money while fighting climate change. It is the job of the government to enlighten the masses on the importance of adopting environmental friendly transportation lifestyle. It will help on the fuel consumption of the country in general. According to treehugger.com, if just one in 10 Americans used public transport daily, the US reliance on foreign oil would decrease 40 per cent. Second, it is safer to ride in a bus than travel in a private car; riding a bus is 79 times safer than riding in an automobile. Studies have shown that people who use public transport regularly tend to be healthier than those who don’t, because of the exercise they get walking to and fro bus stops, subway stations and their homes and offices. Also, families that use public transport can reduce their household expenses.
But sadly, there are indications that the BRT project is deteriorating. There have been several complaints and negative reports on the Lagos BRT all pointing to the fact that there is a growing inefficiency occasioned by infrastructural breakdown. This is now eroding the success story of the scheme in Nigeria as the Lagos system was the first of its type in West Africa and was set to blaze a new sustainable paradigm in public transport in Nigeria. It is now obvious that as the challenges of Nigeria’s operational environment set in, it became difficult to keep the buses on the road as there are increasing cases of breakdowns and steady decline in the number of buses available on the routes. A visit to the BRT yards will make the problem more vivid. Parked bumper to bumper are hundreds of broken down buses which look more like corpses abandoned on top of grave yards without burial than casualty patients waiting in an outpatient ward for medical attention.
However, from recent developments, it seems that things are changing fast at the LAGBUS. It was reported that the management has engaged some key technology partners to commence some processes to check the high incidence of catastrophic breakdowns and embark on energy efficient practices which will help check the high overhead cost of running the BRT system. Key among these include contaminated and adulterated fuels, substandard servicing parts and lubricants and the absence of a technology-driven platform that compensates for Nigeria’s substandard roads and excessive temperature, humidity, dust and related ambient conditions. According to a recent report, “The overall aim is to develop a platform of global best practices models in mass transit maintenance administration designed to keep buses on the road long and at less operational cost compared to current baselines. This is so as to stabilise and regularise mass transit in the Lagos metropolis such that the market, more so than the law, compels the phasing out of inefficient and pollution-prone modalities of transport.”
In other words, just as energy efficient lamps are now utilised in the country to save energy, reduce cost and fight climate change, as they are used to replace the energy-guzzling incandescent bulbs, the LAGBUS is changing its key technological processes to stop the unnecessary waste of energy and Lagos State tax-payers money. At the moment, its fleet is rportedly using ADMAGS’ proprietary Displacement Evacuation Technology, or DET, to evacuate soot, sludge and calcificates from critical engine components without disassembly, in order to restore and maintain efficiencies, and drastically curb carbon emissions from these buses. DET has been shown to reduce fuel consumption by as much as 30 per cent and emissions by more than 60 per cent. It is the success of this service provided by an indigenous company, which inspired LAGBUS to go a step higher by engaging some foreign companies for other aspects of structural efficiency in order to revitalise its operations. These include the use of waterless engine coolants, state-of-the-art maintenance and upkeep solutions, and engine remanufacturing and reconditioning. The technology partners through their combined technologies and competencies, targets a reduction of LAGBUS’ operational costs by 20 per cent in 2014, 30 per cent in 2015 and 45 per cent by 2016. Carbon emissions reductions have been projected at 65 per cent in 2014, and 15 per cent each year across-the-board into 2016.
My point is that as these technology partners are engaged, the ultimate aim should not just be to reduce cost for LAGBUS, but to help the country achieve technology transfer. For instance, the partner who will be engaged for remanufacture and reconditioning of the LAGBUS carcasses must export the remanufacturing technology to Nigeria in order to create jobs and solve the environmental challenge of abandoned buses in Nigeria, where vehicles are left to rot along our highways and streets just because there are no plants to utilise the abandoned components of these vehicles in producing serviceable parts and brand new buses, which is exactly what remanufacturing is all about. Nigeria cannot afford to be just consumers of foreign products without technology transfer. Multinationals like LG, Kia, Panasonic, etc have thriving sales businesses in Nigeria without manufacturing plants in our shores. Infrastructure deficit – e.g. zero power supply – has always been used as an excuse to dodge setting up these plants in Nigeria, but we have come to that place where excuses will not just be okay anymore; these companies should, among their strategies for making an inroad into the Nigerian market, come up with ideas on how to finance infrastructure in the country. If not, we shall continue listening to excuses while we see foreign-owned sales and service outlets on our streets multiply without any factory to employ our youths and teach us new things.