Anyone who travels in Accra understands the daily frustration of traffic congestion.
Hours are lost in vehicle queues, trotro passengers wait endlessly during peak periods, and an increasing number of commuters turn to motorcycles despite the obvious safety risks. Congestion has become so normal that many people simply accept it as the price of living in a growing city. It should not be.
Accra was not designed for the transport demand it experiences today. In the 1960s, the city had fewer than 500,000 residents, relatively few private vehicles, and public transport services largely provided by municipal authorities. Following the creation of the Omnibus Services Authority in 1969, the government played a central role in urban transport provision.
Today, Accra is home to well over 2.5 million people. Private vehicle ownership has increased rapidly, while self-regulated trotro have become the backbone of urban mobility, carrying the majority of commuters every day.Yet, the transport system has struggled to keep pace with the city's rapid growth.
Road network
Successive governments have understandably responded by expanding the road network.
New highways, interchanges and flyovers have improved connectivity and reduced bottlenecks in some locations.
However, these improvements rarely provide lasting relief.
As road capacity increases, more vehicles occupy the new space.
Transport researchers describe this as induced demand as the additional road space eventually attracts more traffic until congestion returns.
This does not mean Ghana should stop building roads.
Roads remain essential for economic activity and national development.
However, international experience consistently shows that cities cannot build their way out of congestion.
Road expansion must be accompanied by efficient, high-capacity public transport that provides a realistic alternative to private vehicles.
The first attempt to introduce Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) through Metro Mass Transit in 2003 collapsed almost immediately because of management challenges and insufficient engagement with existing transport operators.
A second effort eventually emerged as the Aayalolo system in 2016. Although this initiative involved transport unions and created new regulatory institutions, it has struggled to achieve its objectives.
Some propose rail systems as the long-term solution.
Rail undoubtedly offers high passenger capacity, but it also requires enormous financial investment, specialised technical expertise and expensive maintenance.
These are important aspirations for Accra's future, but they are unlikely to solve today's congestion challenge in the short to medium term.
Public transport reform is not simply about introducing new vehicles or building new infrastructure.
It is about transforming an existing transport ecosystem involving operators, regulators, passengers, institutions, and investment.
This is why I propose what I call a “Reverse Product Life Cycle” approach to public transport reform.
Transport reform
Traditional transport reforms often attempt to replace the existing system with a completely new one.
In Accra, this has meant introducing BRT as a separate product expected to compete with the trotro system. Such an approach naturally encounters resistance because it disrupts existing livelihoods, institutions, and operating practices.
The Reverse Product Life Cycle turns this thinking upside down.
Instead of replacing the trotro system, policymakers should gradually transform it into the modern public transport system they ultimately want.
The process could begin by improving vehicle standards, introducing digital ticketing, formalising route management, improving passenger information, strengthening fleet management, enhancing safety standards, and supporting operators to transition from individually owned vehicles to professionally managed fleets.
Larger buses could gradually replace smaller minibuses on high-demand corridors while existing operators become shareholders or service providers within the new system.
Over time, passengers would experience better reliability, shorter waiting times, greater comfort, and safer journeys without the disruption that accompanies abrupt institutional change.
Rather than creating winners and losers, the reform would allow existing operators to become partners in modernisation.
This gradual transformation is likely to be more politically feasible, socially acceptable, and economically sustainable than attempting to introduce an entirely new transport system from the outset.
Of course, transport reform cannot succeed in isolation. Decentralising employment opportunities and essential public services would reduce unnecessary travel into central Accra.
Continued investment in roads remains important, but these investments should complement, not substitute for, investment in public transport.
Solution
The solution is not to move more vehicles. It is to move more people efficiently.
Ghana already possesses the foundations of a successful public transport system through the experience of trotro operators, transport unions, regulators, and metropolitan authorities.
What is needed now is a shared long-term vision.
Government, transport unions, researchers, the private sector, and civil society should begin a national conversation on how a Reverse Product Life Cycle strategy can gradually transform today's trotro network into tomorrow's modern mass transit system.
If Accra is to become a competitive and liveable African city, the time to begin that transformation is now.
The writer is a researcher at the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS), Bonn, Germany.
