Travel mode preference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: empirical observations

Figures & data

Figure 1. Public transit modes in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Table 1. Public transit routes and coverage.

Mode of transport	Number of routes	Network coverage (in Km)
Anbessa	124	1,528
Sheger	48	547
Light Rail Transit	2	34
Taxi	1,529	1,358
Higer	37	-

Source: (AACRA, 2020; Davis, 2022).

Figure 2. Major transit stations in Addis Ababa (study stations) (Authors 2022).

Table 2. Socio-demographic profile of respondents.

Variable	Category	%
Age	<18	8.1
	18–25	21.4
	26–35	33.3
	36–45	22.8
	46–55	11.8
	56–65	1.5
	>65	1.1
Gender	Male	47.7
	Female	52.3
Level of education	Cannot read and write	.4
	Write and read	2.8
	Elementary (1–6)	2.0
	Junior (7–8)	1.8
	High (9–10)	11.6
	Preparatory (11–12)	7.2
	Certificate/TVET	10.7
	Diploma	21.7
	Degree (BA/Bsc)	32.4
	Masters (MA/Msc)	9.4
Employment status	Government employed	29.3
	Employed in private company	30.6
	Self-help (Formal)	20.4
	Self-help (Informal)	6.8
	Housewife	1.3
	Pensioner	1.3
Household income (In ETB)	<1000	2.4
	1001–2000	4.2
	2001–4000	13.1
	4001–6000	13.8
	6001–8000	18.2
	8001–10,000	20.6
	Above 10,000	17.5

Note: *ETB = Ethiopian Birr (Ethiopian currency) 1 US Dollar =53 Ethiopian Birr as of February 2023.

Figure 3. Modal usage.

Table 3. Cross tabulation of mode choice by personal and trip attributes.

Attributes	Category	Mode choice
		Privately owned modes	Public owned modes	A combination of public & private modes
Gender	Male	25.2	24.3	50.4
	Female	23	23.4	53.5
Distance traveled (in Km)	Below 5	45.2	19.8	34.9
	6–10	17.8	24.4	57.7
	Above 11	14.1	25.9	59.8
Age groups	Below 35	25	19.5	55.4
	36–54	22.8	29.1	48.1
	Above 55	16.6	58.3	25
Income range (in Birr)	Below 4000	12.2	45.5	42.2
	4001–8000	20.5	23.9	55.5
	Above 8001	29.8	12.6	57.4

Figure 4. Trip purposes (on weekday and weekend).

Table 4. Mode preference and trip purposes.

Trip purposes	Mode preference
	Taxi	Higer	Anbessa	Sheger	Light Rail Transit
	%	%	%	%	%
Education/school	38.7	.9	4.4	5.0	1.1
To take children to/from school	31.1	.2	2.0	2.0	.7
Medical	65.4	.2	6.8	4.4	.2
Recreation	50.1	.2	3.1	13.3	5.7
Family, friends visit & attending social events	17.9	2.2	38.1	23.4	6.6
Religious	17.3	1.8	10.3	9.6	1.1
Work	37.4	5.0	23.9	13.6	5.7
Pension	.7	-	.9	-	-
Shopping	38.5	1.8	12.9	10.5	.4
Personal business	31.5	2.2	14	12.5	2.6

Table 5. Reasons for choosing a particular mode of transport.

Influencing factor	Mode of transport
	Taxi	Higer	Anbessa	Sheger	Light Rail Transit
	%	%	%	%	%
Speed (short travel time)	19.8	0	0.4	6.9	26.4
Cost	3	29.4	32.7	27.9	28.8
Comfort (cleanness, seating)	7.4	0	0.1	2.4	2.4
Convenience	13.8	0	0.8	7.1	8.0
Operating hour	10.8	10.9	19.6	13.5	7.2
Ease of availability	18.1	36.1	25.0	20.5	4.8
Distance to station	11.3	21.0	14.2	12.9	1.6
Frequency of service (short waiting time)	16.0	2.5	7.2	8.8	20.8

Table 6. Results of multinomial logistic regression.

Mode choice^a		Estimate	SE	Wald	df	Sig.	Odds ratio
Public owned mode	Intercept	−0.460	0.707	0.424	1	0.515
	Income	0.000	0.000	44.399	1	0.000*	1.000
	Distance traveled	0.078	0.028	7.570	1	0.006*	1.081
	Travel expenditure	0.096	0.052	3.456	1	0.063**	1.100
	Age category	0.056	0.016	12.754	1	0.000*	1.057
	Female	−0.259	0.322	0.650	1	0.420	0.772
A combination of private and public owned mode	Intercept	−0.179	0.616	0.085	1	0.771
	Income	0.000	0.000	7.782	1	0.005*	1.000
	Distance traveled	0.093	0.025	14.282	1	0.000*	1.097
	Travel expenditure	0.165	0.045	13.496	1	0.000*	1.180
	Age category	0.003	0.014	0.048	1	0.826	1.003
	Female	0.026	0.266	0.010	1	0.922	1.026

^aThe reference category is: Privately owned mode.

*significant at 0.05 level **at 0.1 level.

Figure 5. Desired improvement requirements on public transport service.

Addis Ababa City Road Authority. (2020). Final Route Rationalization Report Ethiopian Transport System Improvement Project (TRANSIP): Advice on Optimization of Anbessa City Bus Enterprise (ACBSE) Management. In RFP No. ET-AARTB-377-CS-QCBS. Addis Ababa.

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Davis, M. (2022). Beyon Car Growth: Digital van service as alternative to private car use in Addis Ababa. Policy Brief 2 by the Addis Ababa Urban Age Task Force. Transport and Mobility Services. https://www.google.com/search?qurbanagetaskforce,net/addisababa/

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