No abstract

Water transport being among the oldest mode of transport is crucial to the development of any nation. It provides means of transportation for both rural and urban dwellers, particularly along the coastal areas and inland waterways. It is a known fact that water transportation has been neglected for a long period by both the government and the private sector, particularly in the area of safety of passengers on Lagos waters. This paper examines the perception of safety and the use of water transportation among passengers within Lagos metropolis. The jetties were purposively determined. Using a random sampling technique, a structured questionnaire focusing on socio-economic characteristics of passengers, use of water transport, reasons for the use of water transport, perception on safety and frequency of water transportation usage were administered to 1050 passengers across the selected four jetties (Liverpool, Falomo, Bayeku, and Ijegun Egba) within the metropolis with a response rate of 86.3%. The step-wise multiple regression results show that passengers’ perception of poor safety of water transportation predicted a significant 78.1% of reluctance to travel by water within Lagos metropolis (F = 27990.685, p<0.05). This study, therefore, recommends that the state government should provide adequate safety measures that could repose confidence in passengers in order to increase patronage of water transportation. This singular act could help to reduce the incessant traffic congestions on Lagos roads.

Literatures have stressed the importance of mode choice preference in accurately predicting the future travel demand. Despite having diverse travel needs and challenges coupled with the proliferation of informal operation of car hire services in Lagos over the years, there is still a lack of knowledge and understanding of the intra-mode use behaviour of Lagos metropolitan residents of taxi services. This is necessary to address the numerous challenges posed by inadequate transport supply within the Lagos metropolis. Using the availability of the traditional taxi (Lagos yellow cabs), Uber, Bolt, this study examines the factors that drive a sustainable intra-modal competition through the mode choice behaviour of a diverse Lagos population with residents sampled from selected areas where all the three modes operate within the Lagos metropolis. A structured questionnaire form was administered randomly to 174 commuters to find out the reasons behind their preference and their perception of the service delivery of ride service hailing operators in comparison to the traditional taxi (Lagos yellow cabs). The study revealed that Uber had the highest preference (41.3%) followed by Bolt (36.8%) with yellow cabs recording only 6.9%. Service charge (cost) for taxi service was responsible for 74.1% of intra-modal preferences. The stepwise multiple regression results further revealed that easy access to Uber and Bolt (through the use of ride-sharing apps) and service charge had significant influence on passengers' intra-mode preference. The study suggests that government should step up action at reviving the 'yellow cabs' to boost access to taxi services within Lagos metropolis.

The widespread use of mobile communications has resulted in a new practice in family and social life, with significant implications for physical distance. This is because mobile communication allows users to overcome spatial issues such as distance to healthcare services, shift to person-to-person connectivity, and the blur boundaries between one point and another. The uneven distribution of healthcare facilities and distances among them has compounded the provision of follow-up care services to healthcare seekers. Therefore, this paper examined the relationship between the use of mobile telephone to access follow-up health-care services and physical distance separating out-patients from healthcare centres. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model provided the framework for the study. Using a systematic random sampling technique, a structured questionnaire focusing on socio-demographic characteristics (gender, age, and income), mobile telephone usage for follow-up healthcare services and its effect on physical distance, was administered on 370 respondents at Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Lagos. Pearson correlation was used to determine the relationship between the physical distance of patients from the hospital and mobile telephone calls for follow-up healthcare services, and the result revealed a strong positive relationship between them (r = 0.898, p ≤ 0.05). The result indicates that 134 patients used mobile telephone to access follow-up health-care services. It was also found that physical distance is responsible for 89.8% of mobile telephone calls for follow-up healthcare services. Continuous use of mobile telephone technology to improve the quality of follow-up health care service provision for patient satisfaction is recommended.

No abstract