Lagos traffic congestion: Are urban cable cars a viable alternative?
The alarm beeps at 3:30am and by 4.00am Lagosians are awake and ready to hit the road in pursuit of their livelihood. Those who live on the Ajah axis of Lagos are bemoaning the upsurge in traffic and the hours spent on the road to get from home to their work places and vice versa everyday all due to unending road construction. This gives rise to the thought of a possible solution to the traffic menace so as to ameliorate the stress on the lives of Lagosians.
I recently had the opportunity to chat with the Chief Executive Officer of ROPEWAYS TRANSPORT LIMITED, Capt. Dapo Olumide on the organization’s vision to cut down the commuting hours of road users from one end of Lagos to the other through the introduction of a mass urban cable car system.
The idea of a mass urban cable car system in Lagos almost seems too good to be true! According to Capt. Olumide, Lagosians will be able to get from the network’s central hub at Adeniji Adele in the heart of Lagos to Apapa in 5 minutes; and from Apapa to Victoria Island in 14 minutes. Those who have not experienced Lagos traffic will not understand the sigh of relief Lagosians will heave at the thought of being able to bypass all the traffic on major roads, to head straight to their chosen destination, finish whatever business they have planned and return home all in record time, day after day. Anyone who has spent time in cities like Lagos and Port-Harcourt will attest to the fact that much of the working day is spent on the road, trying to get to work or trying to catch up with one meeting, or the other. Now, just imagine if there was an affordable means to cut travel time by a huge margin and increase time spent with friends and loved ones and in doing productive work. Almost sounds unbelievable, doesn’t it? So, would you consider going by cable car, as an alternative to the existing modes of transport in the city?
The first urban cable car system in the world was installed in Austria in 1644, and the first urban cable car installation in the USA was in 1938. Cable cars have also been used in tourism to showcase the amazing aerial view of cities. Today, cable cars have evolved into a safe and reliable mode of transport that can address the mass transit challenges of large, densely populated cities such as Lagos. It is a clean, safe and efficient mode of cable transportation and is guaranteed to reduce journey times for local residents from hours to minutes. Recently, I had the opportunity to take a cable car ride in London at the O2 Center (#MyEmiratesView). Sitting up there in the cabin, I thought about Lagos and the convenience of traveling from Apapa to Victoria Island everyday once the cable car becomes operational, and I concluded that it will indeed be a welcomed addition to the other forms of transportation in Lagos. Little wonder some of the world’s most exciting tourist destinations offer cable car transportation as part of their sightseeing attraction.
The cabins travel on two fully locked track ropes much like a traditional aerial tramway. The track ropes are fixed tensioned in the stations. An endless haul rope runs at a constant speed, which can be selected by the operator, thus moving the cabins, which run on the track rope on carriage wheels. Upon entry into the station the cabins detach from the haul rope. They are decelerated to creep speed by means of deceleration units with pneumatic tyres. The station speed of approx. 0.25 m/s allows for easy loading and unloading of passengers. Once the cabins have passed through the station, they are accelerated to a nominal line speed of 8 m/s by means of the acceleration units with pneumatic tyres, and upon reaching the nominal speed, they attach to the haul rope again automatically. As on an aerial tramway, the track ropes are guided over the towers in special track rope saddles. The haul rope runs over the towers on haul rope support sheaves, and on very long rope spans it can be suspended from the track ropes by means of special slack carriers to prevent excessive sags.
Based on the current Lagos design, 4 cable cars will be in a station at any one time either unloading or loading passengers and a cable car will depart the station every 17 seconds. As a consequence, during hours of operation, the project will have a capacity of approximately 5,500 passengers per hour per direction between any two stations.
In Nigeria for example, the Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross River State has a cable car system offering fantastic views of the rolling hills and dales of this picturesque countryside. In the last five years, Ropeways Transport started a move to diversify the use of cable cars in Nigeria from being not just a tourist attraction, but to becoming a viable transportation option in Nigeria.
According to Capt. Olumide, Lagos, famous for its extremely high population density and endless traffic congestion makes for a logical flagship city for the first ever mass urban cable car public transportation system in Nigeria. The former Lagos state Governor, Babatunde Fashola, in 2013, said that the State Government had commenced the construction of the route for the cable car project to complement the transportation system in the State. A 50-year Franchise Agreement was then signed between the Lagos State Government and a private firm, Ropeways Transport.
A look at the website of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority shows that the plans to actualize this dream is still ongoing. According to the site; “the most promising corridor for cable car development to complement the Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP) is the corridor linking Apapa with Lagos Island, Obalende/Ikoyi and Victoria Island, which is not directly served by the STMP mass transit networks.” These routes are very strategic for mass transportation in Lagos, and any move to supplement the already existing modes of transport in these areas will be highly welcome. The website also provides insight into the public-private-partnership angle of this investment by stating that; “the project will attract private sector funding thus increasing the level of investment available for improving transportation in Lagos”. While it is reassuring that there has been some thought and action directed at making cable cars a reality, the fact remains that Lagosians are yet to see physical signs of any activity heralding the coming of the Cable car transportation system. In his interview, Capt. Olumide answered this observation by stating that “contrary to public perception, construction is actually underway as we speak. The problem is that it is subterranean; that is, it is underground and the technical term for what is currently going on, is called – ‘piling’. That is why the public is not aware that work has actually commenced.
A lot of work has been done in the last two years to determine the most effective route alignment and elevation for the cable car ropeline, as well as detailed studies and architectural designs of the stations. Capt Olumide further stated that it has been five years since the project was first conceived, and that it will still be another 24 months before the first phase of the cable car network from Victoria Island to Adeniji Adele via Falomo and Obalende is launched in Lagos.”
However, the question I pose here is this; are Nigerians ready for cable cars?
The psychological make-up of the average Nigerian may perhaps be the biggest obstacle to the viability of cable cars as a commercial transport service. Nigerians are a particularly safety conscious group of people, not prone to taking potentially life-threatening risks. This is evident in the lack of patronage of the waterways. Though more people seem to be using speedboats and ferries as a means of transportation from areas such as Ikorodu to Victoria Island, general patronage is still extremely low. It is commonly believed that water transportation is dangerous and can lead to the loss of life and property. This same fear is likely to hamper the patronage of cable cars. Cable cars are suspended in mid-air by steel cables connected to supporting towers, which may be up to 3km apart. This might create a feeling of helplessness and anxiety to commuters. Add this to the general feeling of mistrust among the populace for anything new and the abysmal maintenance culture of property owned by both public and private service providers, then perhaps one wouldn’t blame the average Nigerian for choosing not to play Russian roulette with their lives. The question that really needs to be answered is this; Are cable cars as dangerous as people might perceive them to be, or are people’s fears unfounded and merely a factor of ignorance?
How safe are cable cars? The truth is that every means of transportation comes with its own unique dangers, and cable cars are no exception. There have been a number of cable car mishaps globally, with the Cavalese cable car disaster in 1976, known as the worst cable car disaster in history. Forty-three people were reported to have died in that incident, however, the casualty rate is surprisingly much less than the prevalent rates of vehicular and air transportation accidents. And more noteworthy is the fact that in the last 30 years of continuous operations, no accident has been attributed to the failure, or malfunction of the cable car system in an urban environment. According to Stephen Dale of New Geography, “Over 10,000 cable installations operate worldwide, transporting over 4 billion people per year, yet accidents are rare and fatalities are almost unheard of”, therefore, going by the number of people transported daily on cable cars around the world, the number of cable car accidents when compared with the number of accidents that occur using other forms of transportation, including air transportation, which is generally adjudged to be the safest means of transportation, is surprising low.
In all this, it is important that human life is valued. Any potential cable car operation in Nigeria must be subjected to the highest levels of safety and reliability tests. The Swiss example should serve as a blueprint for any operation in Nigeria. This is because Switzerland has one of the most extensive cable car networks. Many of the Cable car parts are made in Switzerland and exported elsewhere, and there is an exceptional safety record in that country (for every 1000 passengers in 2008, there were 0.000005 deaths). So the question is not whether cable cars are safe but whether Nigeria can follow the best standards of safety and service delivery as obtains in Switzerland. The cable car service should not be run as a typical Nigerian system where safety procedures are ignored and maintenance left till the very last moment.
Finally, for the cable car service to gain mass patronage and become profitable, it must be preceded and sustained by a vigorous and vibrant publicity campaign to dispel the fear factor associated with cable car transportation and present it as a cheap, safe and trendy way to travel. There is an interesting example in history of how this was achieved. The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois, U.S.A. In 1874, when the bridge was about to be launched, there was widespread concern about safety. The locals had never witnessed anything like it before. John Robinson led an elephant on a stroll across the new Eads Bridge to prove it was safe. A big crowd cheered as the elephant from a traveling circus lumbered towards Illinois. Before long, the bridge became one of the most beloved landmarks of the city. The cable car project requires a promotional campaign that will galvanize members of the public to see it as a viable alternative to spending long hours in traffic. Business activities within Nigerian cities will benefit greatly from having newer, more innovative means of moving people and goods from one location to the other. This is exactly what cable car transportation has to offer.
Next week, we will publish Captain Dapo Olumide’s interview as he discusses the changes his organization Ropeways Transport hopes to bring as they roll out the Cable Car Project blueprint across Nigeria with the flagship state, Lagos.
MUNA ONUZO