Dar es Salaam is experiencing substantial population growth, with its metropolitan population projected to exceed 13 million by 2030. This growth is placing considerable pressure on the city’s urban infrastructure. The recently introduced rapid transit system now enables thousands of residents to reduce their travel time into the city from three hours to just 45 minutes via the BRT. Our study examines the opportunities surrounding the new transport corridor, with a focus on potential future expansion.
Strategic guidelines for a new transport network in East Africa's fastest growing city
Broadway Malyan is leading an international advisory team preparing the strategic framework for Dar es Salaam’s proposed 137 km Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network corridor. the integrated transport and development strategy aims to change the shape of the rapidly expanding city, focusing on the 21km-long phase one BRT route which opened in 2016. The project is sponsored by The World Bank and the Nordic Development Fund, with Broadway Malyan collaborating with project partners Aurecon, Mobility in Chain, CoLab and Pangani Real Estate Services.
The strategy builds on the success of the BRT’s journey time improvements to stimulate a substantial and thriving new connected redevelopment, attracting new inward investment, creating jobs and helping to improve living standards and related city infrastructure. Once completed, this framework will become a prototype approach for all future six phases of the BRT network.
At the heart of the project is the concept of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), which aims to create higher-density, mixed-use areas around transit hubs. This approach creates a walkable, pedestrian-focused environment, promoting soft mobility and public transport use while discouraging car reliance, thus actively contributing to carbon emission reduction.
A critical aspect of the project was stakeholder and community engagement. A range of activities including focus groups, public exhibitions and an active Facebook page were established, designed to reach a wide audience and to gain increased levels of feedback. Interactive workshops proved successful using ‘learning through play’ techniques such as role play and model building to communicate key messages.
To ensure the project properly understands the city’s issues and priorities, the project has taken an innovative approach to collecting and analysing data. Land use and transport models based on a series of data-rich base maps in Geographic Information System (GIS) were developed which were used for testing different transport movement and real estate development scenarios.
