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Impacts of Transportation Infrastructure and Services on Urban Poverty and Land
Development in Colombo, Sri Lanka
Amal S. Kumarage
1. Introduction
The City of Colombo serves both as the
national capital and the largest city in modern Sri Lanka. Colombo and its metropolitan areareferred
to as the Colombo Metropolitan Region (CMR) fall within the Western
Province, which is the most densely populated and economically active
region within the country (see Table 1). Transportation activity within this
region is also the densest in Sri Lanka.
Table SEQ Table \* ARABIC \s 1 1 : Summary
of Vital Statistics of Colombo Metropolitan Region
|
CMR |
Sri Lanka |
Percentage
(%) |
Land Area (sq.
km.) |
3,593 |
62,705 |
5.8 |
Population
(2001- Millions) |
5,361 |
18,732 |
28.6 |
GDP (1994 Rs.
Millions) |
22,582 |
51,227 |
44.1 |
Vehicle Licenses
(2001) |
456,164 |
955,238 |
47.7 |
Sea Freight
(2001) TEU |
1,726,605 |
N/A |
|
Air Traffic (Pax.
Movements-2001) |
2,916,407 |
2,916,407 |
100.0 |
Figure 1: Sri Lanka
History: From ancient
times, Sri Lanka has been largely an agricultural economy. In recent
history, particularly under colonial rule, the development of the Port
of Colombo and the availability of suitable human resources led to the
majority of industries locating within one hour travel distance from the
port. The growth of industries and the development of Colombo as the
administrative capital and primary commercial center of the country have
formed the basis of the physical expansion of Colombo and its environs.
The legacy of urbanization dating back to
the 16th century centered on the development of the Port of
Colombo under Portuguese occupation. Under British occupation in 1871,
the City had an extent of 2,449 hectares with a population of 98,847
persons. The density doubled by 1931 by which time the city grew to
3,368 hectares with population growing to 284,155 largely due to
annexation of surrounding areas. This density doubled by 1981, by which
time the land area had reached a near maximum of 3,711 hectares. The
most recent strategic land use plan has proposed to reduce the extent of
residential land use from 1,401 hectares to 691 hectares by 2010 in
order to provide for more commercial development (UDA, 1998).
Geographic:
Colombo is a relatively small city with a resident
population of around 700,000 with a day time inflow of a million
persons. Its area is 3,730 hectares. The Colombo Metropolitan Region (CMR)
which serves as the suburban feeder area for Colombo city has a
population of over 5.3 million with a gross population density of 15
persons per hectare. In the City of Colombo itself the density is 188
persons per hectare.
Table 2: Population (2001)
Area |
Population 2001 |
Colombo Municipal Area |
697,396 |
Colombo District |
2,234,289 |
Colombo Metropolitan Region |
5,361,185 |
Sri Lanka |
18,732,255 |
Demographic:
The land use distribution in the City of Colombo
shows that residential use takes up 40%, of the available
land, while
transport & communications takes up 13%, with a further 30% presently
developed for commercial and administrative purposes,
with around 17%
land bare or still under non-urban use. The residential densities within
the city range from between 165 to 1,537 persons per hectare (UDA,
1998). The highest densities are accompanied by
concentrations of people
living in illegal squatter settlements that are badly overcrowded with
respect to facilities available within them. These have, however, become
popular forms of settlements for the poor in the absence of affordable
public or private sector housing programs. It is estimated that at
present about 35% of the citys population lives in these settlements,
which have semi permanent houses, shared toilets and poor sanitation
conditions. This shortage of housing for the poorest sections of the
city is commonly attributed to economic indicators, particularly
affordability to the low income consumer to purchase or rent, scarcity
of land and high land prices and high construction costs.
Transport: During the period
1961 to 1979, the traffic flows crossing the city boundary increased at
the rate of 2.8% per annum. However it has increased at a much higher
rate of 5.4% per annum over the last two decades. The passenger growth
observed during the period 1985-95 was 4.7%, with bus transport growth
at 4%, private vehicles growing at 11.8% and railways at 2.8%. It
analyses the fact that these growth rates are inversely proportional to
the cost of travel. In other words, the cheapest forms have had the
lowest growth. In all, there are presently an estimated 2 million
passenger crossings (both directions) per day in 315,504 vehicles of
which 80% are private vehicles (Kumarage, 2000). The desire lines which
indicate the direction, distance and volume of flow arriving at the
centre, for the commuting trips to Colombo City can be illustrated as in
Figure 2. This shows that commuting trips are rather short distances,
with a few exceptions, where low cost railway travel is available.
Housing: It is estimated that
around 25,000 to 30,000 new houses would be required to house these low
income families adequately. The land that is presently occupied by these
settlements can be used partially for this purpose. However, most
resettlements would have to take place outside the city. The land values
in Colombo City during the period 1985 to 1998 increased at the
rate of 16.5% per annum (p.a.) in nominal terms and adjusted for
inflation this is approximately 5% p.a. (UDA, 1998) while that of the
suburban areas increased by around 18% p.a where the real rate
was around 6.5% p.a.. This makes purchase of land nearly impossible for
poor people. The alternative areas for relocation are located at
distances between 20 to 30 kilometres (kms) from the city centre. The relocation of
the poor to these locations will make accessing jobs in the city more
difficult for them. It is most unlikely that they will move since it
adversely affects their livelihood.
Income:
Income Distribution for the
Western Province, as calculated from the Sri Lanka Integrated Study
(1999/2000) data, is given in Table 3. This reinforces the position
that two-thirds of the population is not engaged in income receiving
occupations. It seems that a significant proportion of income receiving
(34%) fall within the lower half of income range of up to Rs 3,000/= per
month (US$ 430), while 11% falls in the income range of over Rs.
10,000/= (US$ 1,430) per month.
Table
3: Income Distribution (1999/2000)
Income Range |
Western Province |
Sri Lanka |
Not
employed/student/sick |
66.1 |
64.9 |
Up to Rs 1,000/= |
1.0 |
4.3 |
Rs 1,001 to Rs
2,000/= |
4.2 |
6.2 |
Rs 2,001 to Rs.
3,000/= |
6.4 |
7.2 |
Rs 3,001 to Rs
5,000/= |
9.8 |
8.6 |
Rs 5,001 to Rs
10,000/= |
8.9 |
6.2 |
Rs 10,001 to Rs
25,000/= |
2.4 |
1.8 |
More than Rs.
25,000/= |
1.2 |
0.7 |
Total |
100.0 |
100.0 |
2.
Objective & Scope of Paper
The Sri Lanka Transport Sector Strategy
Study (World Bank, 1997) notes that poverty alleviation requires a
transport policy that is focused on the poor. The lack of such a policy
and of relevant information has made it difficult to analyze how the
transport sector is serving and helping the poor. It has been assumed
that the mobility needs of the poor could be resolved by improving
transport networks and public transport services in both rural and urban
areas.
Policies should address, among other things,
the best ways to provide adequate and affordable access for the poor to
get to work, particularly in rural and marginal urban areas,
opportunities for generating employment through the transport sector,
and the strategic use of transport to reduce regional disparities. There
are no studies where the transport needs of the poor have been studied
specifically.
This paper examines the relationship between
employment of the low income earners, their places of residence, and the
transport linkages that are made available.
3. Analysis of Income and Transport
in the Western Province
This analysis is undertaken from aggregate
socioeconomic data collected through Census and other household surveys
and published from time to time. This data is not available for the City
of Colombo. It does however exist for the Western Province. The
objective of this analysis is to identify the patterns of (a)
expenditure on transport and (b) of income of those living in the
Western Province.
Data from the Sri Lanka Integrated Survey
(1999/2000) have been used to analyze the relationship between place of
work and place of residence. Table 4 shows results for the Western
Province (WP) compared to the rest of the country where over half of
people working, do so within their own community. This could be
interpreted in several ways. First, it might suggest that population is
so distributed that the majority of the employment opportunities are
located outside the communities they live in. Second, it might suggest
a higher mobility for finding employment outside the local community,
due to existence of acceptable transport services.
Table 4: Relationship between Place of Work and
Place of Residence
|
Western Province |
Sri Lanka |
Same Community |
51.2 |
66.0 |
Other Urban
Community |
37.3 |
23.9 |
Other Rural
Community |
0.6 |
0.8 |
Other |
10.9 |
9.3 |
Total |
100.0 |
100.0 |
Table 5 gives the cross-relationship between
income and place of work/place of residence for the Western Province.
These two tables show that there is a direct correlation between
individual incomes and the propensity to seek employment in other
communities. This is an interesting phenomenon that could be due to the
fact:
(a)
That those who are able to commute outside
their communities can get better incomes.
(b)
That those who have higher incomes tend to
seek employment away from their own communities.
Table 5: Individual Income and Place of Work
with Respect to Place of Residence WP
|
Same Community |
Other Urban
Community |
Other Rural
Community |
Other |
Not
employed/student/sick |
71.4 |
7.1 |
0 |
21.4 |
Rs 0 to Rs
1,000/= |
76.2 |
9.5 |
4.8 |
9.5 |
Rs 1,001 to Rs
2,000/= |
56.6 |
31.3 |
0 |
12.0 |
Rs 2,001 to Rs.
3,000/= |
51.2 |
40.0 |
0 |
8.8 |
Rs 3,001 to Rs
5,000/= |
44.9 |
45.9 |
0.5 |
8.7 |
Rs 5,001 to Rs
10,000/= |
38.9 |
53.3 |
1.7 |
6.1 |
Rs 10,001 to Rs
25,000/= |
54.2 |
35.4 |
0 |
10.4 |
More than Rs.
25,000/= |
48.0 |
36.0 |
0 |
16.0 |
Total
|
50.6 |
38.3 |
0.6 |
10.4 |
In the case of (a) it relates to the
availability and affordability of transport. This implies that poor
transport will make people immobile and captive to their own
communities, thus preventing them from accessing and holding employment
that is higher paying. Both Tables 4 and 5 indicate that only those with
incomes less than 1000/= per month appear to show a marked difference to
other income categories with respect to the percentage of persons
working within the same community. The amount of income that falls
within this category in all probability refers to part time employment
which cannot be compared with the full time employment as the commuting
distances would be very much less in the case of the former.
In the case of (b) above, it is a known
social factor that higher paid employment is generally concentrated in
centers (usually urban) and thus the average commuting distances would
increase as people seek higher paying employment. This argument also can
be used to explain why the percentage working in other urban areas
increases with income and then begins to decrease when monthly incomes
increase beyond Rs. 10,000/=. This could possibly mean that relocation
becomes more affordable when incomes are in that magnitude. The reverse
inference of this observation is that when incomes are less than Rs
10,000/= per month, people are more likely to be constrained by the
availability of transport facilities in seeking employment away from
their community of residence.
A comparison of the two tables indicates
that in the Western Province, there is higher mobility between residence
and employment communities for the same income groups. This means that
people have to commute further as residential and employment areas tend
to be more separated in urban and suburban areas.
3.2
Occupation and Travel to
Work
Table 6 gives the cross-relationship between
type of occupation and place of work/place of residence for the Western
Province. There is relatively little mobility among those engaged in
agriculture, as many people in this category are farming their own land
or fishing, both activities generally being located close to
residences. Those in business, trade, and manufacturing activities also
appear to be, in general, residing close to their places of employment -
for example, family-based businesses where home and shop or home and
trade are located within the same premises. On the other hand, casual labour shows a somewhat higher propensity to seek employment in urban
centers. These might be persons who are engaged in construction or
similar work and who might not actually be commuting on a daily basis -
more because of distance than transport fare. Salaried employees mostly
travel outside their communities to urban communities for employment and
show the highest degree of mobility.
Table 6:
Type of Occupation and Place of Work with Respect to Place of Residence
- WP
|
Same
Community |
Other
Urban Community |
Other
Rural Community |
Other |
Casual
Labour |
55.1 |
23.2 |
1.7 |
19.8 |
Salaried
Employees |
29.3 |
63.4 |
0.3 |
7.0 |
Business/Trade/Manufacturing |
76.1 |
15.0 |
0.0 |
8.8 |
Personal
Services |
50.0 |
6.3 |
0.0 |
43.8 |
Agricultural |
92.8 |
6.3 |
0.0 |
0.9 |
3.3 Income and Ownership of
Vehicles
Ownership of all types of vehicles in
the Western Province increases with income, as shown in Table 7. All income
groups own bicycles in significant numbers and bicycles are the most
common vehicle owned. Motorcycles are also used by all income groups,
although their ownership levels become significant only when household
incomes rise above Rs 5,000 per month. In the case of cars and vans,
ownership is recorded even at low income levels, but becomes significant
only when household incomes reach Rs 25,000 or more.
Table
7:
Vehicle Ownership per 100 Households by Income (Rs/month) -
WP
|
0-
1000 |
1001-
2000 |
2001- 3000 |
3001 5000 |
5001 10000 |
10001 -25000 |
Over 25000 |
Total |
Bicycles |
34 |
15 |
17 |
28 |
38 |
41 |
34 |
33 |
Motor Cycles |
07 |
04 |
02 |
14 |
11 |
24 |
21 |
14 |
Cars & Vans |
00 |
01 |
02 |
01 |
04 |
15 |
52 |
09 |
3.4 Percentage of Income Spent
on Transport
The analysis of expenditure on public
transport as a percent of expenditure on transport incurred by three
different income groups is given in Table 8. This clearly confirms the
earlier trend but also provides information that the income group with
less than Rs 3,500/= for monthly incomes are clearly captive to public
transport, while this figure falls to around 50% to 60% percent of
households when incomes are between Rs 3,500/= to Rs 10,000/=.
Table 8:
Distribution of HH Income Groups by Expenditure on Public Transport
(2000)
Income group |
Expenditure on Public Transport
as a Percentage of Expenditure on Transport |
0-20% |
20-40% |
40-60% |
60-70% |
70-80% |
80-100% |
Less than Rs 3,500/= |
|
|
|
|
|
100% |
Rs 3,500- Rs 6,000/= |
3.7% |
5.6% |
5.6% |
18.5% |
11.1% |
55.6% |
Rs 6,500 Rs 10,000/= |
9.6% |
1.9% |
17.3% |
3.8% |
7.7% |
59.6% |
3.5 Expenditure on Public
Transport and Income
Data from SLIS (1999/2000) have been
tabulated in Table 9 to show the percentage of household expenditure
spent on public transport by income group, for the Western Province.
The table shows that the percent of expenditure on transport is below 3
percent for the majority of households, irrespective of their level of
income. The higher percentages are to be found among those households
with higher incomes. However, it should be pointed out that the vast
majority of public transport travel should be undertaken by those in the
higher income categories. In this respect it should be noted that since
the consideration is by household income and not individual incomes
those households with several income-earning members would have a higher
income but also a proportionately higher transport cost due to increased
travel to work.
Table 9 does, however, indicate
that the higher percentage expenditure on public transport is
concentrated in the middle class households where incomes range between Rs 3,000/= to Rs 25,000/= per month. In the case of those households
with incomes less than Rs 3,000/=, less than 2 percent of households
incur more than 9 percent of their expenditure on pubic transport and
less than 6 percent of the households incur more than 6 percent of
expenditure on public transport. The respective values are higher and
nearly double in the Western Province. This
means that the urban poor appear to spend proportionately more on public
transport than the rural poor do. This could be due to difficulties in
using alternative modes of transport in urban areas, particularly
bicycles; or else it could also be due to longer distances to work and
school.
Table 9: Percent
Expenditure on Public Transport by Income Group (WP)
Percentage Expenditure |
Income Group (Rs) |
Total |
0-
1000 |
1001-
2000 |
2001- 3000 |
3001-
5000 |
5001-
10000 |
10001-
25000 |
Over 25000 |
0 percent |
65.5 |
69.2 |
51.2 |
44.7 |
35.6 |
35.0 |
34.5 |
41.9 |
0 to 3 percent |
13.8 |
11.5 |
9.8 |
16.0 |
16.0 |
26.5 |
24.1 |
18.0 |
3 to 6 percent |
13.8 |
15.4 |
26.8 |
23.4 |
27.0 |
14.5 |
27.6 |
22.0 |
6 to 9 percent |
3.4 |
3.8 |
7.3 |
11.7 |
8.6 |
12.8 |
6.9 |
9.4 |
9 to 12 percent |
3.4 |
0.0 |
4.9 |
1.1 |
7.4 |
6.0 |
6.9 |
5.0 |
12 to 15 percent |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
3.2 |
3.7 |
1.7 |
0.0 |
2.2 |
Over 15 percent |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
1.8 |
3.4 |
0.0 |
1.4 |
Total |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
100.0 |
4. Analysis of the Travel Patterns
of the Working Poor in Colombo City
The second source of data is from a survey
of those identified as the working poor that studies the ability to
access work and their residential features such as distance and type of
house. The paper also compares the potential to work with the commuting
distances. The comparison is based on the relative costs of transport,
time of travel, availability of late night travel and social parameters
such as type of housing, status of childrens education, etc. The survey
also investigates the impact on those employed in transport services.
The results are particularly significant with respect to three-wheeler
(auto-taxi) drivers who are resident in urban settlements and prefer to
live close to the city centre which is a focal point of their work and
cannot drive their vehicles long distances for the night. They are
different for bus crews who usually live a fair distance away from the
city centre as they can ride their own bus home for the night.
Survey: A total of 164 personal
interviews were made of people who were working within the Colombo
Municipal City Limits. The questionnaire used for these surveys is
given in Annex 1. The survey included location of employment and
residence, mode(s) of travel, travel cost and time by each mode, nature
of employment, work hours, nature of residence, if transport curtails
longer work hours, monthly expenditure, income and household vehicle
ownership.
The breakdown by employment type is given as
follows:
Security Guards:
Mostly earning the minimum legal monthly pay and often working double shifts
Parking Wardens:
Mostly permanent employees of local government
Cleaning Personnel:
Government and private sector contracted staff
Labourers:
Working on daily wage basis
Traders at Wayside
Stalls: Working in fixed areas but self
employed.
These five groups represent the lowest
earning employees in the city. In addition two other groups representing
transport-sector workers were also interviewed. These are identified as:
Three Wheeler Drivers:
Mostly self-employed auto-rickshaws drivers
Bus Crews:
Crews mostly working on daily pay basis for buses owned by private
individuals.
4.1 Distance of Travel & Generalised Cost
The mean travel distance and the Generalised
Cost of Travel by each group of employees are given in Table 10. The
distance is taken as the minimum road based distance for travel computed
by the TransPlan traffic model (University of Moratuwa, 2003).
Generalised Cost is computed to represent in addition to the fare or
cost of transport, the cost of time, which is calculated at 20% of the
income rate. The income rate is calculated by dividing the monthly
income stated in the survey form and dividing by the total working hours
reported for the month.
Table 10: Travel Characteristics of
Employees
|
General Employment |
Transport Sector Employment |
|
Security Guards |
Parking Attendants |
Cleaning Personnel |
Labourers |
Wayside Traders |
3
Wheeler Drivers |
Bus Crew |
Distance to Work place (km) |
7.3 |
9.2 |
12.6 |
8.1 |
8.6 |
7.9 |
14.1 |
Cost of Travel (Rs/one-way) |
10.3 |
10.5 |
9.3 |
11.2 |
9.1 |
35.1 |
4.0 |
Travel Time (mts/one way) |
46.3 |
52.1 |
40.9 |
42.0 |
33.4 |
31.1 |
38.5 |
Total Generalised Cost/day |
31.3 |
31.2 |
24.4 |
30.4 |
19.0 |
85.2 |
18.1 |
Monthly Income Rs/Month |
8,318 |
6,584 |
6,914 |
5,750 |
10,111 |
10.285 |
12,384 |
% of Income for Transport |
15.1% |
19.0% |
14.1% |
21.1% |
7.5% |
33.1% |
5.8% |
It is seen from Table 10 that average travel
distances between different employment categories vary between 7.3 kms
and 14.1 kms. The travel time varies between 31 minutes and 52 minutes.
The travel cost varies between Rs 4.00 for bus crews- who travel for
free along with the bus most of the distance and a high of Rs 85.2 for
three wheeler operators who have to ride their vehicles to the place of
operation. Apart from these extremes demonstrated in the transport
sector employment, other employment demonstrates fairly uniform costs
and travel times.
Interestingly,
however, the relationship between expenditure for transport as a
percentage of total income appears to have an inverse relationship with
income. As indicated in Table 10, the lowest average income earners who
are labourers spend 21.1% of the their incomes on generalized costs for
travel, while the highest income earners who are the wayside traders
spend only 7.5% of their incomes on transport. Figure 3 shows this
relationship where the lower the average income, the higher is the
percentage of their income that is spent on transport. While the bus was
the predominant mode of travel for all categories, the higher income
earners spent less time to travel to the same distances as they tended
to live closer to the main bus routes and the travel times were less.
This is intuitively plausible since the higher income groups could
afford to live in lands closer to the main roads. Thus the distance from
the main bus routes appear to be the primary reason for increase in
total travel costs.
4.2 Land Ownership, Land Prices &
Distance to Work
The survey, by tracing the location of work,
alternative housing locations, and access and cost of transport finds
that land prices in suburban areas which are alternative locations for
the urban poor to be relocated are usually away from the main transport
corridors and are presently poorly served by public transport. The
irregular hours that the poor work are not conducive to public transport
which usually operates well only during peak periods. The costs of
travel to these alternative sites are high hence, the need to reside
in the city. This increases the value of land and also overcrowding in
settlement areas which are the only such affordable lands for the poor.
In addition this puts pressure on services
in urban areas and results in the poor not having adequate equal access
to these services which are more freely available in suburban areas. For
example, the city has the most popular schools, but the ones attended by
the children of the poor are neglected when compared to similar schools
in suburban areas. Similarly, the incidence of health and safety
problems is higher, as is that for crime and other related activities in
these squatter settlements.
The house and land ownership of the residences
occupied by the interviewees is given in Table 11. It is seen that only
22% of the people were on rented land. While 42.1% stated that they were
occupying legally owned land, 26.8% stated it was government land. The
latter are to be considered mostly as squatters on state lands, usually
marginal lands in the periphery of the city. The fact that nearly 70% of
the people claimed a fixed abode makes them less mobile to seek
accommodations closer to their places of residence. This also adds to
increased commuting distances and increased transport costs.
Table 11: Breakdown of Land & House
Ownership
|
Percentage |
Own Land |
42.1% |
Government |
26.8% |
Rented House & Property |
22.0% |
Other |
9.1% |
This is further reinforced by the evidence
that the percentage of those who own their own house and property decreases
as the distances between residence and work place decreases. This is
shown in Table 12, which shows that only 31% of those living within 5 kms from their places of employment occupy their own houses. This
increases sharply to 64.5% when the distance increases to over 10 kms.
Table 12: Percentage of Employees who
live in Own House & Property with respect to Distance from Work Place
|
Percentage |
Less than 5 kms |
31.0% |
5 to 10 kms |
50.0% |
Over 10 kms |
64.5% |
However, the quality of housing appears to
fall when employees get closer to their workplaces i.e. to the centre
of the city. As shown in Table 13, those living less than 5 kms from
their work places do so in Housing Settlements which have only shared
amenities, as opposed to Separate House and Property or Flats
(Apartments). Thus it is clear that while going further away from the
city centre has an added advantage, as the quality of housing that can
be afforded improves.
Table 13: Percentage of Employees who
live in Settlements with respect to Distance from Work Place
|
Percentage |
Less than 5 kms |
31.0% |
5 to 10 kms |
11.1% |
Over 10 kms |
6.5% |
The
value of land as perceived by most of the interviewees appears to be
quite suspect as they seem to have no clear idea of the market value of
land. Even those who stated they lived on their own land had a poor idea of
the actual value. This could also be due to the fact that most of the
land which was considered as own is also encroached and not legally
owned. Hence the value of exchange of such land is only a fraction of
the market price. Moreover, these lands, most often located on marginal areas such as on canal banks, marshy areas prone to stagnating
water or flooding, underdeveloped localities, etc., have a depressed
market value compared to the better developed and sought after land at
equal distance from the city centre.
However Figure 4 clearly shows that even
the perceived land value has a correlation with the distance from the
centre. It also shows the lower land value in the city centre itself,
which due to the commercial and wholesale trade environment has lower
market prices. The highest prices are distances between 2 to 4 kms from
the city centre. According to Figure 4, the value of land drops to about
1/3rd the cost at distances of 20 kms.
Figure 5 shows the relationship between the
total one-way Generalised Cost of Transport and the value of the
residential land. While sharp variations are evident especially within
shorter distances, as the distance (and the cost) increase, the
relationship appears more distinct. At a Generalised Cost of Rs 80, the
land value is around Rs 25,000 per perch which is 1/160th
of an acre or approximately 272 square feet in area.
When the Generalised Cost falls by half to
Rs 40, the land value doubles to around Rs 50,000 per perch. Similarly,
when the Generalised Cost reduces by one half again to Rs 20, the land
value once again doubles to Rs 100,000 per perch. This clearly shows
how transport costs and land values are inversely related, so that an
inverse linear relationship exists between the two.
4.3 Working Hours and Commuting
Distances
The ability to supplement fixed incomes by
working longer hours is an important means of overcoming the
ever-increasing cost of living especially in urban areas. However, poor
transport and increasing distances between work places and residences
may limit opportunities for this. This is shown by the results displayed
in Table 14 where those living within a total Generalised Cost of
commuting one way of less than Rs 5 from their work places indicate they
have no restrictions imposed by availability of transport to working
extra hours. When the Generalised Cost increases to between Rs. 5 and
Rs. 10 per one way trip, the percentage decreases to 90.9%, and to 84.4%
when the Generalised Cost increases to over Rs 10 per trip.
Table 14: Generalised Cost of Commuting
and Average Working Hours
Generalised Cost of One Way
Travel (Rs.) |
Average Work Hours |
Up to Rs 10/= |
11.9 |
Between Rs 10/= and Rs 20/= |
10.9 |
Between Rs 20/= and Rs 30/= |
11.5 |
Between Rs 30/= and Rs 40/= |
10.5 |
Between Rs 40/= and Rs 60/= |
10.2 |
Over Rs 60/= |
9.8 |
The average working hours for these
employees appear to also suffer with increasing Generalised Cost. Thus
around 2 hours of potential work appears to be lost when Generalised
Cost increase beyond Rs 60. When it is between Rs 30 to Rs 40, around
one hour is lost. Thus longer commuting distance not only increases the
cost of transport, it reduces the potential working hours. Thus
considering a mere 20% of the value of the income rate for commuting
travel appears to be too conservative. It is therefore considered that
the value of commuting time for low salaried employees may be
significantly similar to the wage rate.
4.4 Vehicle Ownership & Income
The vehicle ownership of the working poor is
also an important parameter of commuting to work. As shown in Table 15,
the majority of people with monthly incomes of less than Rs 15,000/= do
not have access to any vehicle, not even a bicycle. This impedes access
to employment. While affordability is unlikely to be the cause, it is
most likely to be lack of facilities for riding a bicycle. Bicycle
ownership increased with income up to the Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000/-
level, after which using a motorcycle or three wheelers appears to be a
more likely choice of a vehicle.
Table 15: Vehicle Ownership as a
Function of Monthly Income
|
Vehicle Ownership |
Monthly Income of Interviewee (Rs) |
No Vehicle |
Only Bicycle |
Having a Motorcycle or 3 Wheeler |
Having a Motor car or Van |
Total |
Less than Rs 5000/= |
72.0% |
18.7% |
9.3% |
0% |
100% |
Between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 |
62.5% |
26.8% |
8.9% |
1.8% |
100% |
Between Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 |
53.8% |
30.8% |
7.7% |
7.7% |
100% |
5. Conclusions
The research concludes that
(a) In
urban areas, more people work outside their local communities when
compared to rural or agriculturally based communities. It is also shown
that those who are employed outside their communities enjoy higher
incomes. However, for income groups below Rs 10,000/= there is a lack
of adequate and affordable transport facilities and therefore it can be
concluded that for those with lower incomes a greater value addition
for their output can be obtained if they can commute to urban centres
where employment opportunities are greater. This is further confirmed
when daily paid casual labour show a significantly lower propensity to
seek work in outside communities when compared to salaried (monthly
paid) employees. This may be mostly due to the fact that those with
steady jobs can get discounted bus and rail passes, while those seeking
casual labour and work in different places are unlikely to obtain
convenient and cheap transport facilities and thus consequently have to
bear the full cost of travel.
(b) The
ownership of bicycles is relatively high for all income groups. This
level of affordability makes the bicycle a vehicle to access work for
the poor. This may be in fact one reason why the poor appear to be
constrained to work in local communities, since this relatively
inexpensive form of non-motorized transport is available.
(c) With
respect to expenditure on transport it appears that the urban poor spend
proportionately more on public transport than the rural poor do. This
could be due to difficulties in using alternative modes of transport in
urban areas, particularly bicycles; or else it could also be due to
longer distances to work and school.
(d) The
analysis of the data from surveying of the working poor shows that the
lower the average income, the higher is the cost of transport for commuting.
This includes time costs. It is also indicative that the lower the income,
the greater appears to be the access distances to the main bus and train
corridors. The access costs namely the time costs
appear to be the
significant contributor to increasing the cost of transport of the lower
income earners.
(e) The
analysis also provides evidence that land prices decrease sharply with
the increasing cost of commuting from the place of work. Doubling of
transport costs indicates a halving of land prices and vice-versa. This
results in more people who live in distance areas being able to afford
their own house as opposed to those who live closer to the city who live
in rented or illegal squatter lands. Thus there is clear evidence that
poor transport forces the working poor to seek residence within the
city, where the only affordable land is the illegal squatter type or
low-amenity government flats within the city.
(f) The
survey also reveals that the average working hours also decrease
proportionately with the cost of commuting to work. The average cost of
time appears to be valued at around Rs 30 to Rs 40 per hour. This works
out to a daily wage rate of between Rs 250 and Rs 400, which is close to market rates.
(g) As
opposed to general vehicle ownership, it appears that the ownership of
bicycles among those who commute to work in Colombo City is
significantly lower. This indicates that fewer workers utilize bicycles
to access work in Colombo or even to access motorized modes of transport
such as buses and trains. However, this also provides an opportunity for
accessing work outside their own communities if park and ride facilities are
provided for bicycles in small town within commuting distances. There
are a few such places that have evolved
however there is now evidence
that a more organized attempt could be justified.
(h) The
above clearly indicates that the relationship of transport facilties,
distances between work and housing and the value of land have a close
relationship. The need to provide for city centre housing for the poor
increases with poor transport facilities. Thus land use policy should
take into account the quality of transport services that are
available.
Acknowledgements
The author gratefully acknowledges the
contributions of Ms RP Jayaratne in the analysis of the data and of Mr.
W. Muthuthanthri in conducting the surveys.
Amal S.
Kumarage
is a Professor of Civil Engineering of the University of Moratuwa in
Colombo, Sri Lanka. He also is serving as the Chairman of the National
Transport Commission in Sri Lanka.
References
Central Bank of Sri
Lanka 1999, Report on the Consumer Finance & Socioeconomic Survey Sri
Lanka 1996/97, Colombo.
Department of Census
& Statistics 2002, Household Income and Expenditure Survey; 2000/01:
Final Report, Colombo, Department of Census and Statistics.
Kumarage A.S. 1998,
Formulation of Policy Framework for Poverty Alleviation: Transport,
Colombo, Sri Lanka Poverty Alleviation Project, UNDP.
Kumarage A.S. 2000,
A Review of Household Incomes & Public Transport Services & Fares in
the Colombo Metropolitan Region, Colombo, World Bank Report,.
Urban Development
Authority 1998, Colombo Metropolitan Regional Structure Plan,
Colombo, Urban Development Authority.
University of
Moratuwa 2003, TransPlan Database, in preparation, Moratuwa.
World Bank 1997,
Sri Lanka Transport Sector Strategy Study, Volume 1, Colombo.
Annex 1:
Survey Questionnaire
Survey on
Transport to Work (City of Colombo)
Transportation Engineering Division
University
of Moratuwa
A.1.
Where is your Place of
Residence
DSD
.Town
.Area
A.2.
Where is your Place of
Work
DSD
.Town
.Area
A.3.
What Type of House do you live in:
Settlement/Flat/Apartment/Single House
A.4.
Is the house you live in:
Your Own/Family Members/On Rent
A.5.
Is the land your house is located:
Your Own/Family Members/On
Rent/Govt/
..
A.6.
What modes of Transport do you use to
get to work (underline all modes)
Walk/Bicycle/MCycle /Three Wheeler/Bus/Train/Van/Car
A.7.
How long does it take to
walk to your house from a main bus route Mts
A.8.
What is the cost of
Transport to work (one way)
Rs
.
A.9.
How much time does it
take to travel to work (one way)
Hours
Mts
...
A.10.
Describe the nature of
your work
..
A.11.
What are your Official
Working Hrs
Start ..
..End
.
A.12.
Do you usually work extra
hours
Yes/No
A.13.
If Yes, What are the
usual extra work hours
Start
..End
.
A.14.
Is your work period
curtailed by the time of the Last Bus/Train
Yes/No
A.15.
What is the approximate
Land Value where you live
Rs
.. per perch
A.16.
How many members are there in your
household
.
A.17.
Is there a vehicle for the use of any member in your household
Yes/No
A.18.
If Yes, What are the
vehicles
Bicycle/M.Cycle/Three
Wheeler/Van/Car
A.19.
What is your total
household expenditure per month for all items including
rent/transport/food/clothing etc
.
Rs
.
A.20.
What is your
monthly/daily Take Home salary from employment
Rs
..
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