Why Bodaboda should not be carrying passengers

Tanzania faces hazardous roads and inadequate public transportation. Bodaboda are used to cover the gaps, but they come with a heavy cost. After witnessing a tragic accident last Saturday, I was rudely reminded of the dangers bodaboda pose.

On a routine day at my client’s office, I was pleasantly surprised to see two familiar faces arrive for a meeting with the CEO. I saw an opportunity to take a break from my work and catch up with them while they waited for the CEO. When he arrived, the group decided to have their meeting at a nearby café and I was invited to tag along with them since I hadn’t had lunch yet.

I have always had a fondness for these two guys. Their background working for organisations such as the United Nations and the World Bank has made them remarkably cosmopolitan and it’s always a delight to listen to the stories they have to share.

As we descended the stairs from the sixth floor, one of the guys regaled us with tales of his time in Indonesia. He narrated his three-hour drive down a six-lane highway connecting Jakarta with Bandung. This magnificent engineering feat was built at the time of Suharto and is made up of six massive bridges, each as long as the Tanzanite Bridge. My friend was astounded and asked his hosts how such an accomplishment was possible in just one year. The answer was – Suharto instructed that.

I thought of our Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) project. It took 15 years to complete only the first 21 kilometres of the project. Five years later, the second phase is not operational. Wasn’t it Julius Nyerere that said, ‘While others walk, we must run’? It is funny how we consistently miss Mwalimu’s lessons.

It was about 4 p.m.

At the café, the group discussed a government tender they were interested in pursuing. Since the words ‘government’ and ‘tender’ tend to put me to sleep, I lazily switched my attention between their discussion and the match between Everton and Arsenal on the telly. Hearing how restrictive the tender requirements were, I light-heartedly remarked that it was like they were designed to prevent the group from pursuing the tender. “Of course,” one responded, “they don’t want us to do it!” We burst out laughing.

It was approaching 6 p.m. when we got back on the road.

I had a clear view of the road ahead when the tragic accident happened. The traffic lights had just turned green, and cars began to move along Ali Hassan Mwinyi Road. There was one bodaboda carrying a female passenger. He had stopped at the traffic lights, and when they turned green, he started to move.

But, as the Swahili would put it, Zirael had other plans – barely 10 metres away, an SUV hit the bodaboda from behind, sending the woman into the air. I am not sure whether I turned my eyes away or not, but I literally missed the subsequent details. Next, I saw the woman protracted motionless on the road.

The bodaboda rider survived.

As human beings, we have an inflated sense of self-importance. But it is remarkable to see how fragile our bodies are. As the put it, we are like the morning mist, now we are, and then we are not. I don’t know how that poor woman’s story ultimately ended, but I hope she somehow survived too.

I remember the first time I rode a bodaboda in September 2014. I needed to rush from Posta to somewhere within the central business district, but traffic was particularly heavy that afternoon. Bodaboda came to the rescue.

Over the years, I have become accustomed to using bodaboda since they provide quick and convenient access to many parts of the city. I try to be as careful as possible: I use the riders I know and I give instructions on how to minimise risks, but, as I recall that accident, that is largely futile.

Engineers did not design motorcycles as a solution for public transportation. We may rationalise the high rates of accidents involving bodaboda on account of riders’ recklessness, but had that accident involved vehicles, no one would have had a scratch. Lives are needlessly being lost because we can’t figure out how to do public transportation and youth employment appropriately. As a result, we have made bodaboda, the worst kind of solution possible, the norm.

The cost is high indeed: with over one million bodaboda, Tanzania loses 16,000 lives annually. The losses will continue to increase as another 650,000 bodaboda hit the roads in the next five years. That is what makes Tanzanian roads rank in the top ten of the most dangerous roads in the world.

But bodabodas are not only dangerous, they are also a terrible solution for youth unemployment. If we were to invest in creating jobs in factories that hire thousands of unskilled youths for even 100,000 per month, those young people would eventually become skilled and capable of contributing to economic growth. But the hundreds of thousands of bodaboda riders will remain unskilled forever.

The rope we embrace is not a lifeline, it is a noose.

The original idea behind Dar es Salaam Rapid Transit (DART) was to provide a convenient way for residents to reach every part of the city within 60 minutes. Although I would have preferred for DART to cover a much greater distance than the proposed 150 km, it is still a fantastic solution for mass transit in Dar. DART can help reduce the incentive for young people to join the army of bodaboda riders by providing a viable alternative to bodaboda rides.

Given how high the stakes are, if Tanzania had its Suharto, DART would be completed this December.