Introduction: Cycling Out of Poverty Foundation Uganda (CooP-Uganda) is a non-profit organization with a vision of improving on livelihood of African families by making bicycles and other mobility aids such as wheelchairs available and accessible for everyone. Through its flagship initiatives of Bike4School, Bike4Care and Bike4Work, the organisation now explores a bicycle eco system that is able to unlock cycling in communities, addressing transportation barriers encountered while accessing essential services such as education, healthcare, work, and Income in Jinja Uganda. This study explores the role of bicycles in enhancing multimodal mobility, particularly their integration with other transport modes to create a more accessible and equitable mobility network.
Methods: CooP’s data collection process involves a robust mixed methods technique to assess the impact of bicycles in a multimodal transport framework. We rigorously collect baseline and impact data from program beneficiaries (students, Village Health volunteers and small-scale entrepreneurs), including vital metrics like travel distance, commute duration, and mode of transportation used to evaluate travel behaviour, costs and accessibility improvements. Rigorous vetting and route mapping procedures are utilized to enable analysis of cycling routes, connectivity gaps and potential integration points with other transport modes. Policy analysis examines existing urban transport frameworks and identifies opportunities for cycling inclusive mobility planning.
Results: Preliminary findings indicate that integrating bicycles into Jinja’s multimodal transport system has significantly improved accessibility, reduced travel costs, and enhanced economic opportunities in Jinja. Through Bike4School, students’ commuting time to school has significantly reduced by 62%, resulting in improved school attendance of 72% and academic performance of 80%. Bike4Care has improved timely healthcare delivery and increased patient satisfaction in villages, while Bike4Work has enabled small scale entrepreneurs to increase and sustain on their daily incomes. Route mapping analysis has identified key areas where bicycle infrastructure is needed. Initial policy analysis suggests that while urban transport plans acknowledge non-motorized transport, dedicated cycling infrastructure and multimodal planning remain underdeveloped.