This presentation will discuss the current state of transportation in Nairobi, the challenges with implementing state-of-the-art smarter transportation solutions, and opportunities for collecting new data sources that can inform transportation planning efforts.
Like many other African cities, Nairobi is now grappling with the challenges of rapid urbanization. Kenya’s population has increased by 55% over the last decade, and this combined with significant rural-to-urban migration in Kenya has resulted in critical stress on Nairobi’s limited transportation infrastructure. To mitigate these transportation issues, Nairobi County Government has proposed a number of transportation solutions, including bus rapid transit and arterial expansions. The challenge here is the lack of adequate transportation data for investigating potential travel responses to such investments. There is currently no on-going data collection system nor periodic planning effort to investigate the travel behaviors of Nairobi residents. This significantly constrains the ability Nairobi transportation planners to investigate (via scenario analysis and forecasting) transportation solutions that will best address Nairobi’s multimodal transportation needs.
