Barriers to comprehensive paratransit replacement

In Chapter 5, four main approaches to paratransit reform were identified in contemporary public transport policy discourse. These approaches included: incorporation of paratransit into formalized operating companies as part of ‘big bang’ bus rapid transit (BRT) implementation; a stepped process entailing operational improvements and corporatization with the aim of paratransit becoming the operators of future conventional large bus, or even BRT, services; operator consolidation and competition regulation through franchising or concessioning; and incremental upgrade of existing paratransit services not necessarily leading to corporatization or formalized bus services. It was argued that of these four approaches, the first has dominated Sub-Saharan African strategy formulation over the past decade, especially in Southern and East Africa. As will be demonstrated later in Chapter 11, West African cities (most notably Abidjan, Accra and Dakar) have not followed this approach to the same extent.