Formalizing of Informal Transport: A Case Study of Peshawar

Abstract

Informal public transport serves the majority of the daily commuters in cities of the developing world, its effectiveness is due to the on-demand service, mobility, and flexibility in nature, and the fact that this service has already infiltrated the transport network of cities far and wide, a study shows that in Indian medium-sized cities the trip share of the paratransit is 80-90% (Kumar, Singh, Ghate, Pal, & Wilson, 2016). “Informality is in terms of; Compliance with the regulation on Vehicle manufacturing and Operations, however, could vary from mode to mode and city to city” (Phun, Kato, & Chalermpong, 2019). Other indicators of Informal Transport are that it is a shared service with usually the seating capacity ranging from 3-20 and operated by the private sector (Kalpakcı & Ünverdi, 2016). In this research, informal transport will be studied and factors, characteristics, perceptions, and all possible strategies to formalize it will be under observation. Informal transport although serves as a backbone of the mobility needs of the city it does not reach its potential due to the irregularities and lack of accountability in the sector, this research is focused on providing a solution to this problem. The identification of informal transport through literature and providing a working definition by recording characteristics of informal transport will be the first task, followed by the identification of the factors that act as barriers and drivers, in the formalization of informal transport, perceptions, and satisfaction will be examined and at the end, the study will propose strategies to formalize the informal transport. A mixed-method approach is adopted for the research, using a combination of expert interviews, questionnaire-interview schedule surveys, and literature review. The data will undergo descriptive data analysis, factor analysis, and content analysis. The study will try to find out the ways and methods in which we can improve informal transport, embed it into the city’s formal economy and formal transport network, by doing so we can improve the quality of life of the people and regulate any informal sector activity that otherwise goes unaccountable. The findings of the research are expected to provide insight into the regulation problems associated with informal transport and act as a helping tool in the decision-making and policy formulation regarding transport for Peshawar city.