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Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho

Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2020.

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Other Authors: Thebe, Vusilizwe
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2021
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author2 Thebe, Vusilizwe
author_browse Thebe, Vusilizwe
author_facet Thebe, Vusilizwe
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2020.
format Thesis
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institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:11.720Z
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provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
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spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/78567 Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho Thebe, Vusilizwe mathabosnaz@gmail.com Senamolele, Mathabo Stephania UCTD Development in Passenger Mobility Dissertation (MSocSci)--University of Pretoria, 2020. The informal transport continues to play a crucial role in employment and many people’s livelihoods as transportation is an essential for development and socio-economic improvement of communities and countries. The transport system in Lesotho has had visible imperfections before and after independence hence mobility and accessibility has been a problem in Lesotho. Part of the problem has been due to the country’s topography and poor fiscal capacity to construct roads on the landscape that is already hard to develop and/ or requires a lot of funding. Lesotho, like other developing countries has had a difficulty in infrastructure developments. Available road developments still do not serve the population at large. Therefore most part of the population is left disconnected and marginalised. For the reasons mentioned above, formal transportation that was provided by the government was the Lesotho National Bus Service and Lesotho Fright Bus Services (LFBS). These operated towards the foothills or mountainous areas on gravel roads which were not commercially viable. The buses had defined time schedules and routes while local transport was liberated and left in the hands of private operators. This was done to enable free competition and enable innovation. Then, the country’s population increased and urbanisation become apparent as factories in Maseru and Leribe districts were established attracting people to towns to work at those factories. Mobility of people became an apparent need but available transport was inadequate. This saw an increase of informal transportation to bridge the mobility gap. However, it was still not enough as most of the informal passenger transport operated in towns and rural residents were still disconnected. At that moment many transport operators saw an opportunity to work in the informal transportation sector. This became possible as many Basotho were able to import cars from Japan and used them in the transportation sector to operate as ‘4+1 taxi’s. The model came as an alternative means of transportation because there was still an obvious need in the passenger’s mobility. As 4+1 taxis increased, their operation has been faulted and criminalised for being chaotic by causing traffic jam in the country’s small towns as in causing accidents, being involved in criminal activities and reckless driving, to mention a few. However, little attention was paid on how these taxis have helped to improve the mobility of passengers especially the poor who use them on a daily basis to commute. It is presented in this study that they certainly may be causing mayhem in the towns but they have been very beneficial to passenger mobility in Lesotho. The ‘4+1’ carry four people plus a driver; therefore, they fill in faster. They are timely and do not have fixed schedules; they navigate through traffic and settlements that sprawl out of town. Many passengers do not have to wait on long queues. They forge new routes in-to disconnected and marginalised areas to drive away competition. ‘4+1s have become very important to passenger’s mobility. Authorities need to ensure that they are registered and strictly enforce the law to make sure that they abide by the traffic laws. Anthropology and Archaeology MSocSci Unrestricted 2021-02-15T08:48:38Z 2021-02-15T08:48:38Z 2021-04 2020-12 Dissertation Senamolele, MS 2020, Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho, MSocSci Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/78567> A2021 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/78567 en © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Development in Passenger Mobility
Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho
title Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho
title_full Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho
title_fullStr Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho
title_full_unstemmed Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho
title_short Filling the Gap in Passenger Mobility in Lesotho : The '4+1'as an Informal Passenger Transport Alternative in Lesotho
title_sort filling the gap in passenger mobility in lesotho the 4 1 as an informal passenger transport alternative in lesotho
topic UCTD
Development in Passenger Mobility
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/78567