TRANSPORT SYSTEM AND ITS ROLE IN ESTATE MANAGEMENT

 

Transportation as the term implies is an oil of development in any given community, it is a means or system of transporting people and goods and services from one place to another. It creates employment in the sense that it encourages physical, economic and political development of an area. It is more efficient and effective if a transport system is planned. Therefore, a master is needed for the proper administration of a good transport system which implies three levels of planning namely;

-          Policy planning: this is a planning procedure or planning stage whereby the planner sets aside goals and objectives that will govern the transportation and community board of the people. Here, resource allocation is also taken care of at this stage in the sense that the planner will take care of the transportation corridors as well.

-          System planning: this is a planning stage whereby the planner defines the corridors and systems of transportation network to be used in such community which relies on the population data of the people. Population data is the major thing that plays an important role in planning to ensure a good transportation planning implementation.

-          Project or facility planning: this is a stage whereby the planner takes into consideration the various transportation facilities to be used in the transport implementation. This also involves the allocation of transport facilities, creation of road networks, expressways, arterials, collectors, local streets etc.

Transportation planning as the case may be is resulted as a result of urbanization, increase in population density, and increase in the number of vehicles and motorist in an urban area.

PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH INEFFICIENT TRANSPORTPLANNING OR BAD PALNNING OF A COMMUNITY

There are so many problems encountered as a result of bad planning in the transport sector of any given community, they are listed and discussed below;

I.                    Problem of traffic: this has been a vital problem of poor planning transportation system in any given community. This occurs as a result of uncontrolled high motorization rate and uncontrolled traffic as well because as good transportation system has a controlled traffic, traffic congestion is associated also with poor planning. High density areas and increased migration of people to urban centers also leads to high traffic which if not controlled leads to traffic jams.

II.                  Increased or high cost of goods and services: due the high rate of transport fares, public car owners and business who conveys goods and services are been charged high and they therefore impose these expenses on the consumer goods and services thereby making the cost of these goods and services high and unaffordable by all.

III.                Man hour loss: This is another problem associated with poor transport planning in the sense that the people in such a community always doesn’t meet up to expectation and timing in carrying out their commercial activities.

IV.                Physical and psychological problems: The physical problems of bad planning is that land will not be used to its fullest thereby living some land undeveloped and used because transport is an oil of development in any community.

V.                  Environmental problems: Bad planning of the transport sector leads to various environmental hazards. For example; the fuel engine vehicles or modes of transport would be managed for sustainability of the transport system and also helps in the reduction of air pollution by these hydro carbons in the fuel (CO₂) that is harmful to the green house.

VI.                Social and economic problems: Since transportation is an oil of development of any given community, therefore, bad transportation planning will lead to undevelopment of such community because investors who invests looks for good transport mediums either to their source of raw materials of to their market audience and also employment of labor would be reduced as a result of poor transport planning because industrialization would be drastically reduced.

Furthermore, transport system involves three types of planning namely;

·         Long range planning: this is a planning that involves a longer period of years ranging 10 -15years as the case may be. This kind of planning is usually seen in a place with high population density in the sense that it is covers a all the things needed in the transport system of that community.

·         Short range planning: this is the type of planning that ranges within the space of a year.

·         Intermediate range planning: this is the planning that involves the setting out of transport facilities and systems. This can be achieved within a range of 5 – 7years. It covers more details than the short range planning does.

CLASSIFICATION OF TRANSPORT SYSTEM IN NIGERIA

1.      -Road transport: this is a system of transport that uses road as a medium. It is the type of transport system that is very conversant with all the people in Nigeria. It is very flexible than all other classifications of transport in the sense that it covers every nook and crook of the nation. It is very accessible by all. It is relatively fast in moving both people and goods and services from one place to another. It is cheaper to maintain than all other types of road transport in Nigeria.

Rail Transport: this type of road transport is under road transport but it covers the use of rail as a mode of transport. In this type of transport system, the use of train is eminent and inherent. Here, it can be grouped into the transport of goods and services (cargo) or people as the case may be.

2.      Water transport: this is the type of transport that involves the use of water as a means of transport. This type of transport is not accessible by all in the sense that it covers a range which means that it is only accessible by people in the river line areas. It makes use of boat, ship, canoes as transport modes. This type of transport is expensive in the sense that not all can easily afford it.

3.      Pipeline transport: This is a type of transport that involves the use of pipelines for the transportation of goods and services that are mainly in liquid form. This type of transport has to be very cautious in planning in the sense that poor planning lead to the spilling of oil in the community. Pipeline transport is expensive to maintain.

TRANSPORT MODES

This is a means of transporting people from an origin to destination. This can be broadly classified into private and public modes of transportation.

Private transport: this is a type of transport that requires people and individuals owning cars and transport facilities that are used for private uses. This type of transport is common in both developing and developed countries of the world. They have fixed routes but no fixed schedules always because it is mostly at the owner’s wish.

Public transport: this is a type of transport whereby the users travel through public means unlike the private that has fixed route and schedules at times. Public transport can be paratransit or transit in nature in the sense that the former has a fixed route. Para-transit modes are time wasting in the sense that it is passenger oriented i.e. passengers are been picked and dropped at will unlike the transit public transport that has a fixed route and schedule; example; ABC, airplane and trains as the case may be.

Transit modes are further classified into three namely;

1.      Right of way: this is the exact street of land that the modes of transport operate on which are further subdivided into three categories namely;

a.      Category C: this is the right of way or road whereby it is only divided or demarcated by the use of lines only and other traffic drawings and makings. It is found in less dense areas, it shows oncoming and ongoing vehicles at the same time. Accident can occur in this category if careful driving is not established. It is the lane where low capacity modes move on. Example is the Abba Omega road from ABSU to St. Mary’s Junction Okigwe.

b.      Category B: this is the lane that has barriers, curbs, which are longitudinally separated unlike the category C that has only lines. These curbs allow traffic as well example is the road from St. Mary’s Church junction Okigwe to Port Harcourt express way Okigwe town. Medium capacity modes and high capacity modes of transport also move in this category.             

c.       Category A: this is the category that is fully controlled without grade crossing unlike the other two categories mentioned above. It is the category that the high capacity modes move on in the sense that it involves large controlled traffic with numerous lanes. Example is the Rynkon New Town in London, Washing D.C beach road USA.

2.      Technology: This refers to the mechanical features of the modes of transport that aids there operations. Technological features like;

a.      Support: this talk about the medium or surface that aids such mode of transport to travel from its origin to its destination. Example, the car has rubber tire that runs horizontally on a coal tar surface to aid its movement. The train moves on a rail for its support and ships and boats move on water as their own support.

b.      Guidance: this talk about the means of guiding the modes of transport to its destination. As for vehicles, they are guided by the use of steering, ship also are guided by the use of steering also.

c.       Proportion: this is the decree of engine combustion of the modes of transport. Here we have the diesel internal combustion engine and the petrol or fuel combustion engine that enables the mode of transport to travel. Technological advancement has made us to realize that the diesel combustion engine is far much better and economical than the fuel engine in the sense that the diesel burns slower, carries more work and environmental friendly than the fuel that emits CO₂ which is harmful to the environment.

d.      Control: This is the means of controlling of the modes of transport. Most transport modes are controlled manually, nowadays are some modes of transport can now transport people, goods and services automatically; example is the airplane which has an auto pilot capability.

3.      Types of services: these are seen as the type of service that these transport, modes offer to the people in an area.

a.      They can be by the type of routes that they cover which can be closed or small routes example, covering a route of school or a company or industry. Furthermore, it can also be inter or intra-city services which implies that they cover a wider range.

b.      Service by the type of stopping schedule: these can be further classified into local stops which is time wasting and passenger demand. They do not cover wider range of routes and their routes are not scheduled. It can also be accelerated services whereby, the vehicles skip some stops unlike the local service. It can also be express service which implies that they have specific stop places which are not passenger required or oriented or commanded. Example is the ABC transports going to Lagos, Niger, Abuja etc.

c.       By their time of operation: this means that there are some vehicles and modes of transport that operate on time and schedule. We can example of such modes as in trains, airplanes, some vehicles transports like the ABC. High performance mode is under this category.

FAMILY OF TRANSIT MODES:

            There are several transit modes namely;

-          The low capacity modes which are passenger demanded, they do not carry many passengers. Example are the Dial-A bus, cabs and taxi etc.

-          The medium capacity modes: these are modes that carry up to 10-20 passengers unlike the low capacity modes; they cover great distances and are found in Category B & A right of way category. They are faster than the low capacity modes.

-          The high capacity modes: these are capacity modes that carry up to 20-40 passengers or more unlike the previous modes. They are mainly found on the category A of right of way. They offer express service and mostly have specific routes and schedule. Example is the two London bus in UK England.

-          Commuter transit: this is the type of transit mode that covers the three modes in the sense that it covers a range of home, workplace or market only.

STREET CLASSIFICATION BY FUNCTION

1.      The expressway or high way: this is the major street classification that runs all through large distances, characterized by multiple lanes and it is also a high speed transport mode in the sense that the speed limit can be up to 100km/hr. it connects states and also cover long trips.

2.      The arterials: these are longitudinal streets that serve as a link to the express way in the sense that it collects and channels all other streets to the express way and also enables to and fro of vehicles from the express to other street.

3.      The Collectors: they are street that enables internal traffic between residents and commercial properties in a given area. They are grouped into major, minor collectors depending on the trip generation and land use of the place.

4.      Local streets: the main function of the street is to provide access to the adjacent lands and streets. They in fact make up the major mileage of the city. They don’t have great length unlike the other street classification.

 

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRANSPORT SYSTEM AND LAND USE

            It is important to note that since transport serves as an oil of development and economic upliftment of any given community, it is important to know that these developments are determined by the use to which the land was put to. If a land is used mainly for the production of food by the farmer in the village then the land use will promote the agricultural sector and also determine the trip generation that will be seen from such use.

LAND USE TRIP GENERATION

It is also important to note that land can be used for various purposes and these purposes determine the type of transport system found in such area. Different land uses determines trip generation of such place in the sense that if careful data are collected and used wisely, effective and efficient transport planning will be able to be executed in such a place. Data is an important attribute that will aid the transport planning in any community. Land uses are explained below and their contribution to transportation planning;

RESIDENTIAL TRIP GENERATION:

            This presupposes that the volume of people varies with respect to the income, family size or the degree of car ownership. It also shows the relationship between various classes of people. Various dwelling units determine the amount of trips covered by such residents in a day which can serve as a guide to the transport planning of such place.

I.        Low density dwelling unit: they are the high class income earners that have enough money to cover trips to and fro from their respective houses. Their trip ends are more than the medium density and the high density units. Example is the GRAs.

II.      Medium density dwelling units: they are more in population than the low dwelling unit, their trip generation are much more higher than that of the low dwelling unit, but their trip end are small in the sense that they are not financially capable of handling such expenses unlike the low dwelling unit

III.    High density swelling unit: they are the trip generation which the highest number of trips than the other dwelling units in the sense that their population is more than the low dwelling unit. They comprise of the poor and low classes who can’t afford to spend much money in covering trips like the other dwelling Units

Density	population	Trip generation	Trip end
Low density	10-20	15	10
Medium density	30-60	40	5
High density	80-100	90	3

COMMERCIAL TRIP GENERATION

            It attracts a high density generation but have times in the sense that the tip generation is determined by the number markets and commercial activities in the community and the timings also. Trip generation here is more in the evenings and in the mornings because people will be moving out and coming back at these times as the case may be from their various activities.

Density	Markets and commercial activities available	Trip generation	Trip end
Small market	10-20	15	10
Medium market	30-60	40	50
High density Market like Ariara Aba.	80-100	90	80

                                                                                                                 

INDUSTRIAL TRIP GENERATION

Just like the commercial trip generation, are associated with employments in the sense that the rate of employment of labor will determine the trip generation of the places concerned. Increased employment areas will command more traffic than places with low employment. This kind of trip generation is just like the residential trip generation in the sense that the population of the people working will determine whether the trip generation will be high or low and such data also will be used in the transportation planning of such a place.

Density	Population of employers	Trip generation	Trip end
Low density	10-20	15	10
Medium density	30-60	40	55
High density	80-100	90	95

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT SYSTEM

            This is a system whereby an existing transport system is managed in such in such a way that risks and hazards would be reduced to its minimum means and modes of transports would be maintained and sustained for future uses and for continuity in function of such transport. It is also a system whereby the existing transport methods and modes are converted to an easy and more efficient means of transport that will comfort the people using such transport modes. Sustainable transport helps in reducing and minimizing cost of transport facilities. An example of a sustainable transport effort in the gradual eradication of fuel engines to diesel engines down to gas engines and electric controlled motors.

INTELLIGENT TRANSPORT SYSTEM (ITS)

            This is a system (a group of advance technologies used or developed and deployed worldwide to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of an existing transport system. It is a system that is aimed at improving the technological knowhow of an existing transport system to improve efficiency, effectiveness, reduce cost, reduce traffic congestion and other transportation hazards, save money for the public, improve comfort and sustainability within the transport sector of a given community.

            Furthermore, the advancement in the technological sector of the economy especially in the transportation sector has made it possible for the use of automatic traffic control lights, the use of CCTV cameras and automatic speed dictator cameras, GPS dictators and car trackers. These advancements and innovation are mostly conversant with the developed nations of the world like the USA, UK, Europe and China respectively.