An Exploratory Study of the Message System in the Public Transportation Sector in Nigeria: Potentials as a Low-carbon Bottom-up Social Innovation

Exploratory Study of the Message System in the Public Transportation Sector in Nigeria

Abstract

Bottom-up social innovations are being used in the transportation sector with unintended outcomes for carbon emission reducing potentials. Activists and policy makers have called for studies on the potentials of such innovations in reducing carbon emissions to aid policy recommendations. This study explores the potentials of such an innovation in the transport sector in Nigeria of reducing carbon emissions. Called Message by users, this social innovation is used like an informal courier service to deliver items of trade, documents and medicine among others using the public transportation system. This social innovation saves users costs of transporting the items themselves using public or private transportation or formal courier services. Data on number of Messages sent was collected by personal observation at a public transport terminal for Ikeja bound passengers from Ile-Ife (towns in southwestern Nigeria) for seven days. Ninety-four Messages consisting of 106 items were observed to be sent at the terminal using the Message system during the period. Two scenarios that may lead to savings in carbon emissions were highlighted in the study; the first, if the sender boards a public transportation vehicle to deliver the item and the second, if private transportation was used rather than the Message system. The round-trip distance for the two options was estimated to be 400 Km. A six-passenger 2-litre engine public transportation vehicle which consumes an estimated 9L/100 Km was assumed for the study. The results showed that for the first scenario, 1,297.2 Kg CO₂ will be produced and 7783.2 Kg CO₂ for the second scenario if senders had used these alternatives other than the message system for the 94 Messages. The study concludes that the Message can be regarded as a Low-carbon Bottom-up social innovation and recommends public and/or private efforts to scale-up this innovation in other climes.