UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SALAAM

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

(CoET)
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND
GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING (TGE)
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CIVIL ENGINEERING
CE 498: FINAL YEAR PROJECT I

TITLE: OPTIMIZING TRAFFIC FLOW AT BUS STOPS: STRATEGIES

FOR ALLEVIATING CONGESTION IN DAR ES SALAAM
NAME OF STUDENT: MREMA, RAPHAEL YUDATHADE
REG NO: 2020-04-07856
SUPERVISOR: DR. JACQUELINE MASAKI

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 CERTIFICATION
The undersigned certifies that he has read and hereby recommends for examination by the
University of Dar es Salaam a project entitled Optimizing Traffic Flow at Bus Stops:
Strategies for Alleviating Congestion in Dar Es Salaam, in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering of the University of
Dar es Salaam.

............................................
Dr. Jacqueline Masaki
(Supervisor)

Date: ........................................

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 DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT
I, Mrema, Raphael Y, declare that this project is my original work and that it has not been
presented and will not be presented in any other University for a similar or any other degree
award.

Signature: .......................................

Date: ...............................................

This project is a copyright material protected under the Berne Convention, the Copyright
Act 1999, and the other international and national enactments, on that behalf, on the
intellectual property. It may not be reproduced by any means, in full or in part, except for
short extracts in fair dealing, for research or private study, critical scholarly review, or
discourse with acknowledgment, without written permission of the author or the
Directorate of Undergraduate Studies, on behalf of both the author and the University of
Dar es Salaam.

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 ABSTRACT
This report delves into the optimization of traffic flow at bus stops as a means to mitigate
congestion in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Traffic congestion is one of the major problems
facing the transport sector in Dar es Salaam due to the rapid growth of the city. Effective
management of the design of bus stops and their facilities will be a pivotal strategy for
optimizing traffic flow at the bus stops. This study investigates why other transit bus drivers
violate parking at the bays in bus stops when boarding passengers, holding the queue and thus
causing congestion. Furthermore, the study will aim to obtain the optimal distance before and
after the bus stops where the transit buses will be restricted from occupying the inside lane.
Questionnaire and Video-based data collection will be applied in this study. Questionnaires
will be imposed on transit bus drivers to investigate the reasons why they violate parking at
the bays while boarding passengers at the bus stops. Video cameras will be installed on
identified problematic bus stops to collect various data on transit buses.
The pilot study conducted along the New Bagamoyo road (Mwenge- Tegeta Kibo) section by
imposing questionnaires to transit bus drivers and analyzing their comments on the reasons
that make them violate parking at the bays in bus stops when boarding passengers.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am delighted to extend my gratitude and sincere thanks to God Almighty who has
enlightened me to reach this far and keeping me safe and in good health. I extend my sincere
gratitude to my Supervisor Dr. Jacqueline Masaki and my Co-Supervisor Engineer Festo
Mjogolo for their immense support and frequent guidance in doing this study. I am also
extending my gratitude to all panelists from the Department of Transportation and
Geotechnical Engineering (TGE) for their comments and modifications to this study. I
would also like to express my sincerest gratitude to my family and friends for their support
and counsel over my academic career. Last but not least I would like to extend my gratitude
to all the transit bus drivers who responded to my questionnaires.

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 DEDICATION
I dedicate this report to the Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering staff
in University of Dar es Salaam for their full support in doing my study. The guidance and
instructions from my Supervisor and the comments and recommendations from the panelists
have been crucial for the progress of this study.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
CERTIFICATION.....................................................................................................................................i
DECLARATION AND COPYRIGHT....................................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................................................iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT......................................................................................................................iv
DEDICATION.........................................................................................................................................v
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................................................vi
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS...............................................................................................................viii
LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................................................ix
LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................................................x
CHAPTER ONE......................................................................................................................................1
1.0 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................1
1.1 Background of the study................................................................................................................1
1.2 Problem Statement.........................................................................................................................1
1.3 Motivation for the Study................................................................................................................1
1.4 Objectives of the Study..................................................................................................................1
1.4.1 Main Objective.......................................................................................................................1
1.4.2 Specific Objectives.................................................................................................................2
CHAPTER TWO.....................................................................................................................................3
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................................................................3
CHAPTER THREE.................................................................................................................................8
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................8
CHAPTER FOUR..................................................................................................................................10
4.0 EXPECTED OUTPUTS..............................................................................................................10
4.1 DATA COLLECTION.................................................................................................................10
4.1.1 Questionnaire........................................................................................................................10
4.1.2 VIDEO BASED DATA COLLECTION...............................................................................12
4.1.3 TRAFFIC DATA COLLECTION.........................................................................................13
4.2 SITE CHARACTERISTICS........................................................................................................13
4.3 DATA ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................................14
4.4 PILOT STUDY............................................................................................................................14
4.4.1 Data Collection.....................................................................................................................14
4.4.2 Data Analysis........................................................................................................................15
4.4.3 Results and Discussions........................................................................................................17

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 4.4.4 Conclusion and Recommendations.......................................................................................17
4.4.5 Limitations............................................................................................................................17
CHAPTER FIVE...................................................................................................................................19
5.0 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.....................................................................................19
5.1 Data Collection And Preparation.............................................................................................19
5.2 Data Analysis...........................................................................................................................19
5.3 Project Timeline.......................................................................................................................19
CHAPTER SIX......................................................................................................................................21
6.0 BUDGET SUMMARY................................................................................................................21
References..............................................................................................................................................22
APPENDICES.......................................................................................................................................24

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 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
OECD- Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
ECMT- European Conference of Ministers of Transport.
VMT- Vehicle Miles of Travel.
TANROADS- Tanzania National Roads Agency.
T/NYUKI- Tegeta Nyuki.
B/SOKONI- Boko Sokoni.
MBW/MWISHO- Mbweni Mwisho.

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 LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: A summary of the methodology used to achieve the specific objectives of the study.
..................................................................................................................................................18
Table 2: Summary of questions and information needed.........................................................19
Table 3: Summary of age range of drivers...............................................................................23
Table 4: Summary of drivers’ experience................................................................................23
Table 5: Drivers’ responses on size of bays.............................................................................24
Table 6: Timeline of project proposal......................................................................................27
Table 7: Timeline of project implementation...........................................................................28
Table 8: Summary of the project’s budget...............................................................................29

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 LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: A figure showing an overview of the study area......................................................13
Figure 2: A figure showing an illustration of four types of bus stops......................................17
Figure 3: A figure showing data collection process from the drivers......................................25
Figure 4: A figure showing a friend helping with the data collection from the drivers..........26

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 CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
The problem of traffic congestion in Dar es Salaam is escalating day after day due to various
causes such as, growth of the city in terms of population, too much traffic for a certain road
network to handle, Violation of different traffic signs by drivers and Monocentric structure of
Dar es Salaam city with a single city center in which all the commuters are attracted to it on
their day-to-day routes. Various strategies have been put in place to solve this problem, but
the problem is persisting due to the emerging of other traffic congestion driving factors. This
study aims at investigating this problem on bus stops and suggesting probable solution for
this.

1.2 Problem Statement

Traffic congestion around bus stops due to public transit buses blocking both lanes
significantly impacts the flow of private vehicles, leading to increased congestion in Dar es
Salaam's roadway network. This proposed study aims to investigate and optimize traffic flow
by restricting buses from using the inside lane near bus stops, thereby allowing smoother
movement of other vehicles.
Also, there is a tendency of transit bus drivers to violate parking at the bays when boarding
the passengers from the bus stops leading to traffic congestion near bus stops. In this
proposed study, the aim is to determine the causes of this tendency and propose probable
solutions to the problem.

1.3 Motivation for the Study

This study will help in facilitating the proper design of the bus stops and their facilities to
curb the problem of traffic congestion along the bus stops. Traffic congestion is influenced
also by other factors such as the growth of the town in terms of population, increase in traffic
flow along a certain road network, lack of a good master plan for road networking, poor road
infrastructure, and monocentric city structure. Along with these causes, this study will aim at
the congestion arising at the bus stops.

1.4 Objectives of the Study

1.4.1 Main Objective
 To determine the optimal distance before and after the bus stop where transit buses
should be restricted from occupying the inside lane.

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1.4.2 Specific Objectives
i. To determine the causes of the transit bus drivers violating parking at the bays when
boarding the passengers from the bus stops.
ii. To propose probable solutions for these causes.

Figure 1: A figure showing an overview of the study area.

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 CHAPTER TWO
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
Traffic congestion is one of the key problems in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania especially during
the peak hours of the mornings and evenings. It is a relatively new phenomenon and as
recently as in the middle of the 1990s congestion was not a problem at all except for a few
roads in the city center (Robert, 2013). There is no single, broadly accepted definition of
traffic congestion. One of the principal reasons for this lack of consensus is that congestion is
both:

i. A physical phenomenon relating to how vehicles impede each others’ progression as

demand for limited road space approaches full capacity.
ii. A relative phenomenon relating to user expectations vis-à-vis road system
performance. (OECD, 2007)

Various studies have as been carried out to identify the causes and strategies to alleviate
traffic congestion. This has been done to optimize the traffic flow in different identified
problematic areas. This review aims to provide findings from existing studies on causes and
strategies to alleviate traffic congestion in Dar es Salaam.

Different writings have identified some of the possible causes and strategies to alleviate
traffic congestion as follows.

Robert Kiunsi in his journal “A Review of Traffic Congestion in Dar es Salaam City from the
Physical Planning Perspective” has listed the following causes of traffic congestion in Dar es
Salaam; Increase in population, Expansion of city boundaries, Expansion of city boundaries,
Economic growth, Poor road infrastructure, Mono-centric city structure, Lack of an overall
physical plan and development control and Inadequate road infrastructure and parking
facilities.

Robert Kiunsi also explained the efforts and strategies taken by the city to reduce traffic
congestion as follows, Paving more roads, Increasing the number of lanes for the main roads,
Building new roads, Increasing access roads to residential areas, Improving public transport,
and Preparing a new Master Plan.

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Eradius Rwakarehe in his journal “Review of Strategies for Curbing Traffic Congestion in
Sub-Saharan Africa Cities: Technical and Policy Perspectives” has explained the causes of
traffic congestion as follows, Congestion results from the interaction of many different
factors. According to Cambridge Systematics (2004), in general, root causes of congestion
can be broken down into two main categories as follows: Too much traffic for the available
physical capacity to handle: A highway like other facilities has its maximum capacity; so,
there is a limited number of vehicles that can be moved on a roadway for a given time at a
desired safe speed. In transportation engineering, this is referred to as the physical capacity of
the highway system. The physical capacity is determined by such things as several lanes
available to carry traffic, the curvature of the highway, side clearance, and interchange and
intersection designs. Physical bottlenecks are locations where the physical capacity is
restricted, with flows from upstream sections (with relatively higher capacities) being
directed into them. Once traffic flow reaches stop-and-go conditions, the highway capacity is
reduced, so fewer cars can get through the bottleneck because of the extra turbulence.
(Rwakarehe, 2021)
The proposed strategies were broken down as follows, several strategies/measures can be
used to curb traffic congestion. The biggest challenge is choosing the appropriate one
together with the procedure on how to implement it. The choice of a strategy depends on the
prevailing circumstance(s) at that particular time. According to the Chicago Area
Transportation Study (1998), traffic congestion mitigation strategies can be summarised
under the following twelve classes: transportation demand management measures,
transportation systems management, measures to encourage high occupancy vehicle use,
public transit capital improvements, public transit operational improvements, measures to
encourage the use of non-motorized modes, congestion pricing, growth management, access
management, incident management, intelligent transportation systems, capacity expansion.
The detailed explanations for each strategy including description, general system benefits and
impacts, policies and actions, application principles, and analysis guidelines can be found in
chapter three of the referred document. The problems with the choice(s) of these measures are
discussed in the relevant Section of this paper.

From "Dar es Salaam Transport Policy and System Development Master Plan" here are the
identified causes of traffic congestion in the city, Concentration of
business/commercial/industrial areas in a limited area, leading to high traffic volumes in the
central business district and rapid expansion of residential areas in the suburban areas.

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Mixture of various types of traffic with different demands and characteristics, including
international, regional, and local travel demand. Deterioration of urban public transport
services increases reliance on private vehicles. Lack of enough road capacity and poor traffic
control and management, including malfunctioning traffic signals, poor signal timing, and
lack of coordination along arterial highways. Inefficient use of existing transportation
facilities, such as traffic signals not programmed to respond to demand and operate on fixed
cycle times. Population increases and urban growth, resulting in more people undertaking
longer distance trips and intensifying the interaction between land use and transport.
Residential development in unplanned areas without proper investment in basic
infrastructures, including access roads. Poor traffic control and management techniques,
require better coordination between the concerned agencies.
Also in the book Road Traffic Congestion: A Concise Guide, several causes of traffic
congestion are discussed as follows; Concentration of Trips in Space and Time: If all travel
demand were evenly distributed among the various sections of the urban area, the traffic
congestion problem would be a rare event. Similarly, if all travel were evenly distributed to
each hour of the day there would be little, if any, congestion. But travel demand patterns
reflect the concentration in time and space of daily activities: where and when people work,
shop, recreate, move goods, and provide services. It is the peaking of these spatial and
temporal travel patterns that contribute to the recurring traffic congestion problem. Growth in
Population, Employment, Car Use, and Insufficient Capacity: Growth in population,
employment, and car use (vehicle miles of travel—VMT) increases congestion on streets and
highways where capacity growth has not kept pace with growth in VMT. Bottlenecks are
perhaps the most common cause of congestion. They result from the convergence of a greater
number of lanes in the upstream roadways than are available in the downstream roadways.
(Falcocchion J, 2017).
Furthermore, in the book managing urban traffic congestion the following are the identified
sources and causes of traffic congestion in urban areas;

Activity patterns – themselves determined by demographic, social, and economic factors

along with land-use patterns – have an impact on travel behaviour for individuals,
households, and firms.

Travel behaviour, in turn, gives rise to a level of travel demand which is spread out in time
and space. This travel demand leads both to a general level of traffic flow on the roadway
network and to specific mixes of vehicles and drivers on discrete segments of the roadway

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network- e.g. at the micro level. It is at this level that the dynamic capacity of the roadway is
set through the interaction of such factors as the mix of vehicle types/lengths, traffic speeds,
ingress, and egress patterns, lane switching and car following behaviour, etc. all under the
influence of atmospheric conditions and the prevailing type of roadway pattern. When the
general flow on the network surpasses the dynamic capacity of specific network links,
congestion arises and is propagated upstream. Feedback into the system occurs as roadway
users use their experience with congestion to adapt their travel behaviour and/or congestion
leads to longer-term changes in activity patterns, which in turn further influence travel
behaviour, demand, etc … (OECD, 2007)

There are drivers who show little respect for other road users. In some cities, such as Lima,
many drivers try to cut a few seconds off their journey times by forcing their way into
intersections and blocking the passage of other motorists, thus causing economic losses to
others which are much greater than their gains. In other cities, such as Santiago, it is a
tradition for buses to stop immediately before an intersection, thereby causing congestion
(and accidents). In those same cities, as in others that have an excessive number of taxis that
do not habitually operate from fixed taxi ranks, these vehicles crawl along looking for
passengers, and this also gives rise to congestion (B, 2004)

Other articles also explained the bus stop design and the influence of bus stops on traffic
congestion as follows;

The well-designed bus stops with parking bays had travel time, density, and delay decrease
insignificantly compared to bus stops with curbside (Saurav, 2020). The study was done to
compare the performance of bus stops with parking bays and bus stops with curbside. In our
study, we will deal with improving the design of bus stops to alleviate congestion in Dar es
Salaam. Different bus stop designs have different effects on traffic flow (Jian Z, 2018). In the
article, the bus stops were categorized into four types as show below. Bus stop type four is
common in Dar es Salaam but without the bike lane. Type 4 bus stop has the smallest impact
on both the bicycle and the vehicle traffic. It requires the most travel lanes and occupies the
largest road resource (Jian Z, 2018). Using a simple choice model, it is shown that transit
provision should have a much larger impact on traffic congestion than predicted by models
that do not incorporate within-city heterogeneity in driving delays (Michael, 2013). This
analyzes the impacts of transit transport on traffic congestion.

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Figure 1: A figure showing an overview of the study area.Figure 2: A figure showing an
illustration of four types of bus stops.

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 CHAPTER THREE
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1. Data Collection: Comprehensive data on traffic patterns will be collected from the
respective authorities such as TANROADS, bus stop locations that are identified as
problematic areas will be identified and the study will be conducted upon those area, bus
arrival and departure times, vehicle types, and traffic volume in the identified problematic
areas will be collected by video-based data collection in which the video cameras will be
installed on the identified bus stops.

2. Microsimulation Modelling: A detailed digital model of the roadway network and bus
stops will be developed within the simulation software. Different simulation scenarios with
varying distances for restricting buses from the inside lane near bus also stops the simulation
scenarios for other proposed solutions from the identified causes will be analyzed in the
simulation software.

3. Performance Evaluation: The simulation results will be analyzed to evaluate the

effectiveness of different lane restriction distances in terms of reducing congestion,
improving traffic flow, and minimizing delays for private vehicles. Also, the simulation
results in other proposed solutions for this problem will be analyzed.

4. Recommendations: Based on the analysis, the optimal guidelines will be proposed for
implementing lane restrictions near bus stops to mitigate congestion while ensuring efficient
public transit operations. Also, the other solutions will be proposed based on the optimum
simulation results.

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Table 1: A summary of the methodology used to achieve the specific objectives of the
study.
1. 2.
To determine the causes of To propose probable solutions for
the transit bus drivers these causes.
violating parking at the
SPECIFIC bays when boarding the
OBJECTIVE passengers from the bus
stops.

ANALYTICAL Preparing a questionnaire Using innovative approach

APPROACH for the transit bus drivers.
EXPECTED Reasons for the transit bus Optimum design of bus stops to
OUTPUTS drivers to violate boarding mitigate congestion and ensure
passengers from the bays at efficient public transit operation.
the bus stops

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 CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 EXPECTED OUTPUTS
4.1 DATA COLLECTION
4.1.1 Questionnaire
4.1.1.1 Introduction
A questionnaire, as the heart of the survey is based on a set of questions to gather data from
respondents. Questions are the translated form of what researchers need for their study which
can be addressed using the answers of the respondents. A questionnaire, as the main and the
most dominant way of collecting primary and quantitative data, makes the process of data
collection standardized together with comparable. Thus, it can ensure a faster and more
accurate data collection process and facilitate the data processing as well (Malhotra, 2006),
(Krosnick, 2018).

4.1.1.2 Steps Involved.

1. Information Needed
There are different research questions and hypotheses that need to be addressed as the
aim of the research. The hypotheses are developed based on the reasons or solutions
to the problems using different assumptions. Research questions: however, are more
applicable in practical research aiming to face problems or uncertainties regardless of
applying assumptions (Taherdoost, 2016).
In our study, the Research questions are expressed as follows.

Table 2: Summary of questions and information needed.

TYPE QUESTION INFORMATION NEEDED
Hypothesis Do transit bus drivers use the outside Drivers’ perceptions.
lane on approaching the bus stops?
Do drivers’ behavior influence them Drivers’ perceptions.
to violate parking at the bus stop
parking bays?
Is the size (width and length) of the Drivers’ perceptions.
parking bay sufficient?
Is there a need for an extra outside Drivers’ perceptions.
lane (for transit buses) on
approaching the bus stop?
Research What triggers the transit bus drivers Causes of congestion at bus
Question to violate parking at the bays when stops.
boarding passengers at bus stops?

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2. How is the questionnaire conducted?
The questionnaire will be interviewer-based and conducted face to face due to the
following.
i. Properties of target population
The targeted population (Transit Bus Drivers) triggers the application of face-to-
face questionnaire due to absence of access to smartphones and free time to
them. Also, there will be a need of explanations to some questions due to
unstructured form.
ii. Cost
This method is cost full but cannot be avoided.
iii. Time
Face to face questionnaire method is time effective since answers are obtained
directly from the respondents.
3. Types of questions to be used.
The questionnaire will use both open-ended and close-ended questions. The open-ended
questions will be applied to verify the proposed causes of Drivers failing or violating
parking at the bays on bus stops. The close-ended questions will help to know the
driver's opinions on the causes.
4. Organization of the questions
The structure of the questionnaire will be as follows;
i. Introduction
First, an introduction should be prepared that encompasses several critical points
including the purpose of the study, guaranteeing the respondents’ confidentiality,
sources, and the way to use responses.
ii. Optimizing the order of questions.
5. Properties of the physical appearance of the questionnaire.
i. Language
The language used in the questionnaire will be local language (Swahili
language). But since the questionnaire is face-to-face based, writing language
can be English but the respondents will be asked questions in Swahili.
ii. Font Size
Sufficient font size will be used in case the respondent wants to see what is in
the questionnaire paper.
iii. Providing instructions

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 Instructions will be provided under each question so as the questions will be
understood well (In case the interviewer needed support from colleagues and
friends on asking questions)
6. Pre- Testing
Pre-testing is a very important and essential step, and directly affects the quality of the
questionnaire. In this step, the survey will be conducted using a small number of
participants as the target sample. The number of participants can vary; however,
commonly, between 15 to 30 respondents are adequate. Additionally, the participants in
this step will be chosen like the main target groups in terms of their familiarity with the
subject. Thus, different aspects of the questionnaire such as wording, the flow and the
sequence of the questions, format, and the content of the questions should be considered
at this level (Malhotra, 2006)
7. Finalizing
On finalizing the questionnaire, the following things will be looked upon.
i. First, whether the information obtained from the survey can address the
information desired listed in Table I based on hypotheses or research questions.
ii. Then, whether the survey can cover the information likely to be generated for
addressing the research question or testing the hypotheses.

4.1.2 VIDEO BASED DATA COLLECTION

4.1.2.1 Introduction
In transportation management, planning, and road safety, collecting data for both motorized
and non motorized traffic is necessary (K, 2009). Collecting vehicle data was traditionally
limited to manual data collection or inductive loops at fixed locations (Bahler, 1998), to the
point that loops became standard in many jurisdictions and are still widely used today (B C. ,
2005).

Recently, new camera (sensor) technologies, including thermal or infrared sensors for traffic
surveillance, have become available. Although the present cost of these cameras has
prevented their widespread use in traffic analysis, cost will continue to decrease as the
technology advances.

In our study, video-based data collection method will be applied. Video image processing
systems utilize machine vision technology to detect vehicles and capture details about
individual vehicles when necessary. A video processing system usually monitors multiple

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lanes simultaneously, and therefore it requires high level of computing power. Typically, the
operator can interactively set the desired traffic detection points anywhere within the systems
view area.

4.1.2.2 Means of Data Collection

The cameras will be mounted on the identified problematic bus stops facing the approaching
transit buses, The recording will base on the peak periods. The data will be collected for 180
minutes in the morning and 180 minutes in the evening peak hours. Morning peak hours start
at 0530hrs and end at 1000hrs, while the evening peak hours start at 1600hrs and end at
2100hrs (John M, 2019)

4.1.2.3 Aims of Collecting Data by Camera-Based Method

i. Recording the maximum and minimum time that the transit buses spend at the
bus stops.
ii. Assessing drivers’ behaviors when they are the bus stops.
iii. Evaluating if the transit buses board the passengers while parking at the bays.
iv. Evaluating which lane do the transit buses occupy on approaching the bus
stops.
v. Bus arrival and departure time.

4.1.3 TRAFFIC DATA COLLECTION

On doing our study, other already prepared or collected data will be required to facilitate
microsimulation of the proposed solution models. These types of data will be obtained from
the respective authority (TANROADS). These data includes;

i. Design drawings of the corridor.

ii. Traffic volume of the respective roads.
iii. Level of service of the respective roads.

4.2 SITE CHARACTERISTICS

On an innovative approach, the site for video-based data collection should have the following
characteristics.
i. Number of passengers
The selected bus stop should have large number of passengers to collect sufficient and
correct data.

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 ii. There should be a spot where a camera will be mounted without any obstruction.
iii. The cameras will be mounted on sites with enough security to prevent stealing of
cameras.
iv. The bus stops should be located along the roads with more than one lane heading in
one direction (Four lanes two-way roads and above).
v. The bus stops without parking bays are not considered in our study.

4.3 DATA ANALYSIS

The collected data from the questionnaires imposed to transit bus drivers will be analyzed
depending on the frequency of answers given out by the drivers and hence the causes for the
transit bus drivers to violate boarding passengers at the bays on bus stops will be identified.
Also, the data from the video-based collection will be applied on the microsimulation
modelling in order to suggest the most efficient solution for this problem.

4.4 PILOT STUDY

The pilot study is a study conducted on a small scale to test the feasibility of the study. In the
context of this study, the pilot study was conducted in the New-Bagamoyo Road (A section of
Mwenge-Tegeta Kibo) and the data collection method used was questionnaires.

4.4.1 Data Collection

The data was collected through the questionnaires imposed on the transit bus drivers. The
questionnaire aimed at investigating the causes of different transit bus drivers violating
parking at the bays while boarding passengers at the bus stops. The information given by the
bus drivers will be confidential and will help curb the problem of congestion and optimize the
traffic flow at the bus stops.

The typical questionnaire questions were;

i. How old are you?
ii. For how long have you been driving a transit bus?
iii. What is the route that you use?
iv. How long do you take to complete one cycle of your route?
v. Which bus stops do you stop mostly?
vi. Which bus stops have many passengers boarding a bus and at what time?
vii. Which bus stops are the busiest in terms of fighting for passengers and at what time?
viii. Which lane do you use when approaching the bus stop and what makes you choose
the inside lane or outside lane when approaching the bus stop?

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 ix. Do you find it difficult steering to the parking bay directly from the inside lane?
x. Are the bays on these stops sufficient to accommodate all the transit buses coming?
xi. How long do you stay at the bus stop parking bays?
xii. Do your stay at the parking bay affect other buses to use the parking bays at bus
stops?
xiii. Do you always board your passengers while parking at the bays?
xiv. If not, what causes you not to do so, and when do you do so often?
Data was collected from fifty (50) transit bus drivers by the help of other colleagues due to
bulkiness of data collected.

4.4.2 Data Analysis

The analysis of comments from the transit bus drivers is represented as follows:
i Drivers’ age
The drivers’ ages are tabulated as follows:
Table 3: Summary of age range of drivers.
S/N AGE RANGE (YEARS) NUMBER OF DRIVERS
1 21-30 4
2 31-40 18
3 41-50 23
4 51-60 5
The data above shows that many transit bus drivers’ ages vary from 31-50 years.
ii Years of experience
Table 4: Summary of drivers’ experience.
S/N YEARS OF EXPERIENCE NUMBER OF DRIVERS
1 Less than 10 years 15
2 More than and 10 years 35

The results above depicts that many transit bus drivers are experienced with more
than 10 years of experience.
iii The routes studied were;
 T/NYUKI-SIMU 2000 (10)
 MBW/MWISHO-SIMU 2000 (5)
 B/SOKONI-SIMU 2000 (10)
 T/NYUKI-MAKUMBUSHO (18)
 MBWENI-MAKUMBUSHO (2)
 T/NYUKI-MOROCCO (5)

Note: The brackets indicate number of drivers participated from the respective route.

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iv On average, it takes 2.5 hours to complete one cycle of a route.
v The transit bus drivers identified different bus stops with a large number of passengers
waiting to board the transit buses. The identified bus stops were;
 MBEZI SHULE (TANGIBOVU)
 TEGETA KWA NDEVU
 MBEZI AFRICANA
The transit bus drivers also indicated that there is large influx of passengers
during the morning and evening (this indicates that the peak hours are morning
and evening from 0600-0800hrs and from 1700-2000hrs respectively.

vi Nearly all the transit bus drivers use the outside lane when they approach the bus
stops, But they confessed that it becomes difficult to steer to the bus stop if at all they
were occupying the inside lane when approaching the bus stops. Their comment on this
was that this causes congestion and increase the risk of accidents.

vii. The transit bus drivers also responded to the question on whether the size of the bays
at the bus stops are sufficient to accommodate all the transit buses, their response was as
follows;

Table 5: Drivers’ responses on size of bays.

QUESTION: Are the bays on these stops NUMBER OF RESPONSES
sufficient to accommodate all the transit
buses coming?

Yes 5
No 45

viii. The average time in which the drivers stay at the bays on bus stations is five (5)
minutes and staying longer on the bus stops significantly affect the coming transit buses.

ix. Large percentage (90%) of the drivers confessed that sometimes they board
passengers without parking on the bays, and they stated the following as their reasons of
doing so;

 Passengers fighting for buses before they reach the bus stop bays.
 Bays at the bus stops being full of buses.
 When a specific road is congested, making it difficult to return to the outside lane
from the bays, thus boarding passengers without steering to the bays.

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4.4.3 Results and Discussions
The identified problematic locations from the pilot study basing on the site characteristics
stated earlier are Mbezi Shule (Tangibovu), Mbezi Africana and Tegeta kwa Ndevu bus
stations. These bus stops are characterized by large number of passengers using them
according to answers from the transit bus drivers.

4.4.4 Conclusion and Recommendations

The reasons why bus drivers violate parking at the bays while boarding passengers are;
 Passengers fighting for buses before they reach the bus stop bays.
 Bays at the bus stops being full of buses.
 When a specific road is congested, making it difficult to return to the outside lane
from the bays, thus boarding passengers without steering to the bays.

The proposed solutions for this problem are;

 Increasing the size of the bus stop bays.
 Enforcing traffic laws by traffic police on restricting passengers from boarding the
buses outside the bus stop bays.

4.4.5 Limitations
 Other respondents were not certain of their answers.
 Other respondents were rushing and thus make it difficult for them to give out proper
answers for the questions imposed.

Figure 3: A figure showing data collection process from the drivers.

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Figure 4: A figure showing a friend helping with data collection from the drivers.

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 CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
5.1 Data Collection And Preparation
Comprehensive data on traffic patterns will be collected from the respective authorities such
as TANROADS, bus stop locations that are identified as problematic areas will be identified
and the study will be conducted upon those area, bus arrival and departure times, vehicle
types, and traffic volume in the identified problematic areas will be collected by video-based
data collection in which the video cameras will be installed on the identified bus stops.

5.2 Data Analysis

The collected data from the questionnaires imposed to transit bus drivers will be analyzed
depending on the frequency of answers given out by the drivers and hence the causes for the
transit bus drivers to violate boarding passengers at the bays on bus stops will be identified.
Also, the data from the video-based collection will be applied on the microsimulation
modelling to suggest the most efficient solution for this problem.

5.3 Project Timeline

The study is expected to be done in 4 months, starting from late-March 2023 to mid-July
2023. The following are the activities with their respective durations, starting from the second
semester. But the timeline of this proposal is as follows:

Table 6: Timeline of project proposal.

ACTIVITY DURATION IN WEEKS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Familization of the tittle
Consulting supervisor
Literature review
Preparation of first research proporsal report
Pilot study
Submission of final report and presentation

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The timeline for the Project implementation is as follows:
Table 7: Timeline of project implementation.
ACTIVITY DURATION IN WEEKS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Data Collection and Analysis
Consulting supervisor
Literature review
Report Writing
Microsimulation and Modelling
Presentation of Results

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 CHAPTER SIX
6.0 BUDGET SUMMARY
Budgeting of the project is very important in making sure that all the planned activities on the
timeline are done accordingly. The following is the proposed budget for this project but, may
be subjected to changes as time goes on.

Table 8: Summary of the project’s budget.

S/N ITEM AMOUN
T

1 DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS 150,000

2 TRANSPORTATION COST 40,000
3 LITERATURE RESEARCH AND COMMUNICATION 20,000
4 STATIONARY 20,000
5 CAUTION MONEY 30,000
TOTAL 260,000

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 References
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B, C. (2005). Freeway Detector Assesment: Aggregate Data from Remote Traffic Microwave
Sensor . Transportation Research Record (1917), 150-163.

Bahler, S. K. (1998). Field Test of Nonintrusive Traffic Detection Technologies.

Transportation Research Record. Journal of the Transportation Research Board
(1643), 161-170.

Falcocchion J, L. H. (2017). Road Traffic Congestion: A Concise Guide. Springer Tracts on

Transportation and Traffic.

Hadi K., Seyyed H.& Bahador G (2022). Reducing traffic congestion and increasing
sustainability in special urban areas through one-way traffic reconfiguration. Research Gate

Jian Z, Z. L. (2018). Evaluating the Impacts of Bus Stop Design and Bus Dwelling on
Operations of Multitype Road Users. Hindawi, Journal of Advanced Transportation
Volume, Article ID 4702517. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/4702517

John M, C. M. (2019). Factors Contributing to Traffic Flow Congestion in Heterogenous

Traffic Conditions. Internatonal Journal for Traffic and Transport Engineering 9(2),
238-254.

K, R. (2009). Night-Time Traffic Sueveillance A Robust Framework for Multi-Vehicle

Detection, Classification and Tracking. Advanced Video and Signal Based
Surveillance, 1-6.

Krosnick, J. (2018). Questionnaire Design The Palgrave Handbook of Survey Research.

Springer, 439-455.

Malhotra, N. (2006). Questionnaire Design and Scale Development. The Handbook of

Marketing Research: Uses, Misuses and Future Advances, 83-94.

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Traffic Congestion. NBER Working Paper Series, Working Paper 18757. Retrieved
from http://www.nber.org/papers/w18757

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www.cemt.org

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Robert, K. (2013). A Review of Traffic Congestion in Dar es Salaam City from the Physical
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 APPENDICES
Questionnaire
TRANSIT BUS DRIVERS QUESTIONNAIRE
This questionnaire aims to investigate the causes of different transit bus drivers violating
parking at the bays while boarding passengers at the bus stops. The information given by the
bus drivers will be confidential and will help curb the problem of congestion and optimize the
traffic flow at the bus stops.

QUESTIONS:
1. How old are you?
……………………
2. For how long have you been driving a transit bus?
…………………………………………………………………….
3. What is the route that you use?
…………………………………………………………………………..
4. How long does it take to complete one cycle of your route?
…………………………………………………………………
5. Which bus stops do you stop mostly?
…………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………..
…………………………………………………………………
6. Which bus stops have many passengers boarding a bus and at what time?
……………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………
7. Which bus stops are the busiest in terms of fighting for passengers and at what
time?
………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………….
8. Which lane do you use when approaching the bus stop and what makes you choose
the inside lane or outside lane when approaching the bus stop?
…………………………………………………………………………..
9. Do you find it difficult to steer to the parking bay directly from the inside lane?
…………………………………………………………………………..
10. Are the bays on these stops sufficient to accommodate all the transit buses coming?
…………………………………………………………………………..
11. How long do you stay at the bus stop parking bays?
…………………………………………………………………………..
12. Does your stay at the parking bay affect other buses use the parking bays at bus
stops?
………………………………………………………………………………………
……
13. Do you always board your passengers while parking at the bays?
………………………………………………………………………………………
…..
14. If not, what causes you not to do so, and when do you do so often?
………………………………………………………………………………………
…
……………………………………………………………………………………….

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……………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………………………………………………………………………
…

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