ABSTRACT

Inter-urban transportation refers to the movement of people and goods from one urban area to another in a giving country or region. Inter-urban transportation is inevitably important because it connect places. This study was aimed to analyzed inter-urban transportation problems in Bamenda, the case of Mobile Nkwen and Hospital Round About in the Bamenda III and Bamenda II municipalities. Methodology involved the collection of both primary and secondary data. Data were analyses using the descriptive methods. The main finding of the research reveal that, there exist inter-urban transportation challenges in Mobile Nkwen and Hospital Round About in Bamenda and the managements strategies been put in place by the council are not sustainable as the problem persist. Therefore, other sustainable planning and management strategies were proposed at the conclusion and recommendation of this work.

Key words: Inter-urban transportation, Bamenda

Hospital Round About and Mobile Nkwen Sustainable planning and Management.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Transportation is an aspect that is concern with mobility, particularly how this mobility is taking place in the content of a wide variety of conditions. Mobility is a geographical endeavor since it trades space for a cost. The purpose for transportation is to overcome space, which is shape by a variety of human and physical constraints such as distance, time, administrative decisions and topography (Jean et al, 2006).

In the space of just a few decades, urban areas across the world, in both developed and developing countries have become increasingly automobile-dominated and less sustainable. In the developing countries in particular, cities have experienced a rapid growth in transport-related challenges, including pollution, congestion, accidents, public transport decline, environmental degradation, climate change, energy depletion, visual intrusion, and lack of accessibility for the urban poor. In the more developed countries, particularly in Northern Europe, some cities have witnessed a trend of reclaiming urban space from the automobile and prohibiting cars from major parts of downtown areas and confining them in other ways. Today, these places are often considered as leading examples of sustainable urban development, as cities across the world strive to meet urban sustainability standards by improving public transport, encouraging non-motorized modes, creating pedestrian zones, limiting the use of private cars, and otherwise trying to undo the transformation of cities caused by automobile dominance. Concepts of automobile restraint that were unthinkable just a few decades ago are now being considered or even adopted in many urban areas around the globe, both north and south, with the encouragement and support of major international organizations (Dorina and Dominic, 2015).

Increasing value of time in modern society has brought high speed railway and air transport to the forefront of today’s inter-urban transport. Japan for example, with the advent of Shinkasen in 1964, has high speed railways in inter-city travel. This was follow by other European countries, South Korea and USA who also introduced high speed inter urban transport (Katsuhiro and Kiyoshi, 2009).

The urbanization of Cameroon during the 20^𝑡ℎand 21^𝑡ℎ century has led to the emergence of new towns and cities all over the country. This was also follow by increased in human activities, the dominant being agriculture, follow by commercial and tertiary activities. All these activities in the different towns and cities in Cameroon have great need for transportation for their operation.

The town of Bamenda is one of the largest cities in Cameroon. Around 1899, it emerges as the largest urban area in the western highlands of Cameroon. This was continuously follow by an increase in urbanization of the neighboring town around it putting a high demand on access road which was due to the continuous increase and numerous human activities. As a result, inter-urban transportation problems emerged.

Regional Hospital Round About and Mobile Nkwen are two of the busiest and most active areas in Bamenda due to their geographical location as gate ways to many towns and villages in the northwest and beyond. Inter-urban transportation problems in the form of traffic congestion, illegal of loading and offloading, non-legalized human activities especially informal sector activities which are very dominant and other legalized human activities are common in these areas.

• Statement of the Problem

Transportation is a very important activity in the tertiary sector of Bamenda. This explains why there exists numerous travel agencies, public parks and checks points all over the town of Bamenda. Inter-urban transportation is a common phenomenon in the city. However, the activity is plague by numerous challenges, ranging from traffic congestion, parking scarcity, car dependency and many others. These problems are common in areas like Mobile Nkwen and Hospital Round About.

Traffic congestion for example, have become a daily problem in Hospital Round About and Mobile Nkwen. Also with the increasing urbanization of the town of Bamenda, new roads have been constructed linking the neighboring interior villages to the center of the city. These has cause vast movement of people to the city center of Bamenda for different economic, socio-cultural and political reasons. This has also caused the demand of urban transportation high, leading to the increase in the numbers of motor bikes, taxis and buses along main road junction of Mobile Nkwen and Hospital round about. As a result, poor traffic flow has become dominant in these areas.

Furthermore, the rapid growth of the city of Bamenda makes it difficult for a single park to support the large number of vehicles which come from different urban areas in Cameroon. As a result, new parks have been created, some towards the periphery and other travel agencies have emerged close to road junction. This has result to limited parking space, illegal loading and offloading and clandestine activities.