If you had to point to one city that embodies of the challenges of the 21st century, it would be Lagos, Nigeria. The New Yorker had a wonderful piece on Lagos over a year ago, describing it in apocalyptic detail:
Smoldering hills of sawdust landfill send white smoke across the bridge, which mixes with diesel exhaust from the traffic. Beyond the sawmills, the old waterfront markets, the fishermen’s shanties, the blackened façades of high-rise housing projects, and the half-abandoned skyscrapers of downtown Lagos Island loom under a low, dirty sky. Around the city, garbage dumps steam with the combustion of natural gases, and auto yards glow with fires from fuel spills. All of Lagos seems to be burning.
Recently, it seems that things might have improved. For a city known for lawlessness and disorder, it’s a true accomplishment that Lagos now boasts its first ever bus rapid transit line. The bus line became an immediate success, improving the commute of thousands of people in a city where formal services were non-existent.
Below, I’ve included some photographs of the new system taken by Sam Zimmerman of the World Bank.
Also, here’s a link to a presentation made by Dayo Mobereola from Lagos State Government on the new system.
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June 2nd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
I quite like the BRT, it is a very good initiative, however, there is need to extend it to other areas in Lagos. It will also be good if effective monitoring of the drivers is available to check rough driving.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:25 am
The course of BRT is a good one I must commend. This, since its inception has reduced the transportation problems of Lagosians. However, I will request that the an enforcement agencies be employed to monitor the dedicated lanes as earlier problems by the Lagos State Government. The routes in question are Berger-Tollgate-Ketu/Alapere - TBS. And moreso, the cleaning of the buses should be paramount.
Thank you.
June 6th, 2008 at 3:28 am
Well, I will have to say that the BRT is a very good initiative of the current administration of Lagos State. However, more needs to be done to make the scheem an absolute success. There is no way on earth, the BRT system wil run concurrently with the Molues’ plying the roads of Lagos state. Something decisive has to be done to make the BRT the only public transportation system in Lagos State.
June 12th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Very promising to see Lagos doing better than Delhi with its BRT.
I linked to this from a 3 June posting on Lagos BRT at my blog, Reinventing Urban Transport.