UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Department of Civil Engineering

CIV5073W

RESEARCH ON TRASNPORT POLICY AND PLANNING

RESEARCH PAPER

“How Rail Development Helps in Transit-Oriented Development: A

Case Study of the Mauritian LRT Project”

Name: Shail Damarasingh

Student No: DMRHAN001
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Plagiarism declaration
1. I know that plagiarism is wrong. Plagiarism is to use another’s work and to pretend that
it is one’s own.
2. I have used the Harvard Convention for citation and referencing. Each significant
contribution to and quotation in this report form the work or works of other people has
been attributed and has been cited and referenced.
3. This dissertation is my own work
4. I have not allowed and will not allow anyone to copy my work with the intention of
passing it as his or her own work.

Student Number DMRHAN001

Name and Surname Shail Damarasingh
Date 23/03/2022
Signature Shail D Singh
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PLAGIARISM DECLARATION I

LIST OF FIGURES IV

LIST OF TABLES VI

LIST OF EQUATIONS VII

ABSTRACT VIII

INTRODUCTION 1

PROFILE: METRO EXPRESS 2

LITERATURE REVIEW 3

TRANSIT ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT (TOD) 3

LAND USE – TRANSPORT RELATIONSHIP 5

EFFECT OF LRT USE 5

RAIL LAND VALUE CAPTURE 7

METHODOLOGY 9

ISSUE TREE I 9

ISSUE TREE II 10

GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS 10

RESEARCH LIMITATION 11

ANALYSIS 12

CASE STUDIES 12

Tunis Light Metro 12

Addis Ababa Light Rail 13

Copenhagen Metro 14

Hong Kong MTR 15

Portland LRT 16

MAURITIUS LRT 17

Plaines Wilhems Population Distribution 17

Plaines Wilhems – Port Louis LRT Daily Ridership Estimation 19

Plaines Wilhems Intra-Regional Commute Trip Generation 22

LRT Trips from Beau Bassin – Rose Hill and Quatre Borne 25

METRO RIDERSHIP COMPARISON 27

Station – Station Distance 27

Catchment Intensity, Catchment Area and Catchment Radius 27

Graphical Analysis 30
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TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT CRITERIA 33

TRANSPORT PLANNING 35

Transit Adjacent Development (TAD) 35

Rail Line – Highway Segregation 39

NMT Lane Conversion to Rail Line 41

MIXED LAND USE DEVELOPMENT 42

TRANSPORT POLICY IMPLICATION 44

CONCLUSION 46

RECOMMENDATION 47

REFERENCE 49
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Metro Express LRT Route and Stations (Source: Open Street Map) 2

Figure 2: Transit - Oriented Development in Hong Kong (Smith 2012) 4

Figure 3: Transit Oriented Development in Copenhagen (Smith 2012) 4

Figure 4: Rail Land Value Capture Methods and Their Financial Return (Newmanel al. 2018; Dziauddin et al.
2015) 7

Figure 5: Main Issue Tree I 9

Figure 6: Main Issue Tree II 10

Figure 7: Graphical Representation of the Four-Step Model (Metropolitan Washington Council of Government,
2022) 11

Figure 8: Tunis LRT Network (Open Street Map) 12

Figure 9: Addis Ababa LRT Network (Open Street Map) 13

Figure 10: Copenhagen Rail Network and Train Stations (Open Street Map) 14
Figure 11: Hong Kong MRT and Train Stations (Open Street Map) 15

Figure 12: Portland LRT and Train Stations (Open Street Map) 16

Figure 13: Main Roads in Northern Part of Plaines Wilhems District (Open Street 2021) 17

Figure 14: Main Roads in Southern Part of Plaines Wilhems District (Open Street Map 2021) 18

Figure 15: Work and Residential Land Use in Plaines Wilhems District (Google Earth) 18

Figure 16: Modal Split between Car, Carpooling and Public Transport for Commuters from the Plaines Wilhems
Region 20

Figure 17: Intra Regional Trip Links in Plaine Wilhems District (Open Street Map) 23

Figure 18: Relationship Between Catchment Radius and Distance Between Stations 31

Figure 19: Relationship Between Catchment Area of Station and Land Area to Train Station Ratio 32

Figure 20: Distance Boundary for TOD Planning 34

Figure 21: Rail Passing Through Sugar Cane Field in Plaines Wilhems, Mauritius (Google Earth) 35

Figure 22: Barkly – Coromandel TAD Rail Section (Open Street Map 2021) 36
Figure 23: Hong Kong Relief Features (Google Earth) 37

Figure 24: Land Use Map of Hong Kong (DeWolf 2019) 37

Figure 25: Hong Kong Land Use in 2020 (Tableau) 38

Figure 26: Metro Express Line along the Motorway M1 (Open Street Map 2021) 39

Figure 27: Rail (Red) and Highway (Blue) in Copenhagen (Source: European Rail Guide 2021) 40

Figure 28: Vandermeersch Boulevard Before Being Converted into an LRT Line (Reuben 2017) 41

Figure 29: Vandermeersh Line (Open Street Map) 41

Figure 30: Conceptual Design of Victoria Urban Terminal (Source: Le Mauricien) 42

Figure 31: Timeline of Hong Kong Mixed Land Use Development Around Stations (Suzuki et al. 2015) 43
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Figure 32: Components of Mixed Land Development Around Stations in Vertical Development 43

Figure 33: Metro Express Extension Plan (Open Street Map) 48

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List of Tables
Table 1: Demographic Details of Plaines Wilhems District (Stats Mauritius 2011) 19

Table 2: Demographic Details of Towns in Plaines Wilhems (Stats Mauritius 2011) 19

Table 3: Change in Mauritian Population and Number of Registered Cars from 2011 to 2021 (Stats Mauritius
2011, Stats Mauritius 2021, CEIC 2017 and CIEC 2021) 20

Table 4: Modal Split of Commuters from Plaines Wilhems Region in 2021 21

Table 5: LRT Ridership from Each Towns of Plaines Wilhems Commuting to Port Louis 21

Table 6: Inter Regional Commute Trip Computation 22

Table 7: Number of Commuter Trips from each Town of Plaines Wilhems 22

Table 8: Land Use of Different Zones in the Plaine Wilhems District 24

Table 9: O-D Matrix Result for Intra Regional Trips in the Plaine Wilhems District 24

Table 10: Commute Trips for Beau Bassin - Rose Hill - Quatre Bornes Travel Link 25

Table 11: Modal Split of Commute Trips in Beau Bassin - Rose Hill and Quatre Bornes 25
Table 12: LRT Ridership for Plaines Wilhems Intra - Regional Commute Trips 26

Table 13: Total LRT Commute Trips 26

Table 14: Factored LRT Trip Estimation 26

Table 15: Distance Between Stations for Observed Regions 27

Table 16: Result of Catchment Intensity Per Station 28

Table 17: Population Density Land Area to Station Results for Observed Regions 28

Table 18: Results of Land Area to Station 29

Table 19: Results for Catchment Area and Radius, and Land Area to Station Ratio 30
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List of Equations
Equation 1: 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧 – 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐱 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐓 24

Equation 2: 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 27

Equation 3: 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 28

Equation 4: 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 28

Equation 5: 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 29

Equation 6: 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 29

Equation 7: 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐏𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 30

Equation 8: 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 30

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Abstract
In 2020, the island of Mauritius has launched the Metro Express project in order to supply a
light rail transit system connecting the capital Port Louis with the major towns situated in the
centre of the island. The motive was to reduce the high congestion level caused by the excess
use of private vehicles. The Metro Express project has been described as a form of transit-
oriented development (TOD) by its main operator and stakeholder, the Metro Express Limited
(MEL), a government-owned company. While development of public transport infrastructure
is important for a TOD city, this research hypothesises that this is not enough to achieve this
goal: a TOD city makes use of land value capture (LVC) to obtain a financial return from the
operation of its transit system. The project is thus compared with the metro system of other
global cities which may have some or all of the criteria satisfying TOD requirements. Those
are Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Portland, Tunis and Addis Ababa. A literature review is first
conducted in order to understand the definitions of TOD and LVC, in addition to other relevant
features associated with the two aforementioned themes. The methodology of research is then
elaborated, and an issue tree is used to ask the relevant questions and to define the different
variables that needs to be analysed. A research limitation chapter is included to identify data
that could not be obtained from MEL and alternative methods used to circumvent this issue are
described. The analysis makes use of the four-step travel demand method to calculate the
number of trips which are made using the light rail. In addition, maps of each of the global cities
as well as the island of Mauritius are studied to understand the variations in transport planning
used as well as the latter’s interaction with its surrounding land use. Results concerning the
catchment area of stations show that users in Mauritius travel on average 1 km to reach their
transit services. This is the highest value recorded when compared to the other case studies: in
Addis Ababa, people walk 900 m while in Copenhagen and Portland, this is reduced to
approximately 600 m. Hong Kong and Tunis registered the smallest values for walking
distance; those being approximately 250 m and 500 m respectively. The average distance
between stations in the island has been measured to be 1.35 km and its relative closeness to the
station’s catchment radius denotes a relatively homogenous residential density in the region.
This reduction in compaction may be due to the consequences of urban sprawl. In regard to the
transport planning, the favour to convert agriculture lands and non-motorised transportation
(NMT) infrastructure into rail line services has the negative consequences of respectively
reducing rural land use and decreasing the local accessibility to the train station. This follows
with an absence of mixed land use development around light rail stations which targets an
integration between residential and commercial spaces and thus a densification of activities at
the node. The absence of multi-housing complex around the stations hints that Metro Express
does not make use of LVC to finance its operation. While this relates to a mismatch between
the integration of land use and transport planning, the myriad of decision-makers affecting the
transport policy of the island makes it hard for all stakeholders to come into agreement on one
define plan integrating land use and rail services. It should however be noted that the Metro
Express line is small compared to the rail network from the other case studies and as such, there
is still an opportunity to input LVC methods upon extending the line.
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Introduction
The island of Mauritius has launched Metro Express in 2020 as a form of light rail transit (LRT)
system in order to alleviate the high congestion level caused by the excess of cars on the road.
This is complemented by the use of electricity as major source of green energy to combat the
effect of global warming. To further encourage the people to use the transportation service, the
Metro Express Limited (MEL), a government-owned company and the main operator and
stakeholder of the Metro Express Project, designed transit stations equipped with bicycle racks
and constructed road networks which give bicycle users direct access within a radius of 1 - 2km.
While the motive of this development is to promote sustainable transportation, it is important
that the people are receptive to the changes induced, thereby causing an asymmetric churn from
the usage of private motorisation to public transport service. According to MEL, congestion
costs the Mauritian economy an estimate of MUR 10 billion (~ USD 227 million) each year
(Mauritius Metro Express, 2022).

The Metro Express Project is a form of transit-oriented development (TOD) which the island
of Mauritius has committed itself to by using light-rail transit as main public transportation
service and having the other modes act as feeder to it. However, this research hypothesises that
the construction and usage of LRT alone may not induce TOD within a region. There is a need
for effective land value capture (LVC) methods in addition to a dynamic interaction between
the public and private sector during the development and post-development phases. This paper
looks at the changes in transportation and land use interaction which many global cities have
undergone in regard to the usage of LRT and mass-rapid transit (MRT), and what strategies
have been used to promote public transport ridership. In addition, the economic benefit of
transit-oriented development is looked at by analysing the mixed land use characteristics of
regions around a transit node. The study is done through the extensive reading of research
papers which also treat similar subjects. In addition, the performance level of Metro Express is
analysed together with the travel and demographic data of the region it currently operates in. A
conclusion is then drawn, and a set of recommendation is brought forward in order to provide
the foundation for future research on Metro Express or any relevant topics across the world.
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Profile: Metro Express

The Metro Express of the island of Mauritius is a major LRT system which connects Port Louis,
the capital of the island with the district of Plaines Wilhems. The latter holds the major towns
of the island, those being: Beau Bassin – Rose Hill, Quatre Bornes, Vacoas – Phoenix and
Curepipe. The light rail system started its operation in 2020 and currently runs from Port Louis
Victoria to Quatre Bornes Central (Figure 1). The line between Quatre Bornes Central and
Vacoas Central is due to open in July 2022, and the entire line is meant to be finalised in
December 2022.

Figure 1: Metro Express LRT Route and Stations (Source: Open Street Map)
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Literature Review
Transit Oriented Development (TOD)
According to Boulbazine and Kebiche (2021), transit-oriented development (TOD) is the
concentration of urban development around sustainable transit stations in order to protect city
lands, constrain urban sprawl, control urban land use, reduce fuel use, and stimulate walking,
biking, and transit riding. An example of such development can be seen upon examining Hong
Kong (Figure 2) and Copenhagen (Figure 3): a high population density is noted around transit
stations. Since the island of Hong Kong has a mountainous topography, the railway lines have
been used as part of the development strategy to concentrate the population growth on real
estate-friendly land. In Copenhagen, the 1947 and 1960 Finger Plans were undertaken in order
to prevent urban sprawl and thus, development was directed towards dedicated transit lines
(Andersen and Jorgensen 1995). In their study on cities in Algeria, Boulbazine and Kebiche
(2021) mention that highly populated Algerian cities which have an attractive, well-connected
and appropriately designed transit service are suitable for TOD. This is because it is easier to
move a high concentration of people through the use of mass public transportation. In addition,
the bigger a city is geographically, the more difficult it is to further develop it due to a restriction
on land available. It is thus more economical to develop around transit stations since they act
as catchment for mobility.

A node within a TOD region can be called a transit village. Bernick and Cervero (1997) define
a transit village as a region suitable for walking and one which is designed as a compact, mixed-
used community centred around a transit station that, by design, encourages residents, workers
and shoppers to forego driving and to instead rely on public transportation. The amalgamation
of residences, commercial facilities and offices induce mix land use development. Bernick and
Cervero (1997) further hypothesise that a transit village provides traditional urban values with
an alternative living and working environment that combines suburban values, open space
lifestyle, human-scaled buildings and a sense of security. According to the World Bank Group
(2018), the urban population is continually increasing and englobes nearly 56% of the global
population. Newman and Kenworthy (2015) find that the capacity of existing transportation
infrastructure in urban areas is becoming continually stretched owing to a rise in population,
congestion and pollution level, and this is prompting governments to transition from car-based
mobility to public mass transportation in order to be more sustainable.
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Figure 2: Transit - Oriented Development in Hong Kong (Smith 2012)

Figure 3: Transit Oriented Development in Copenhagen (Smith 2012)

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Land Use – Transport Relationship

According to Babalik (2000), in several regions, there is a link between public transportation
and land use change. For instance, travelling by car can allow people to cover as far as 50 km
per day, prompting many real estate companies to develop low-density suburbs on the fringe of
cities. Wringley and Wyatt (2001) also propose a link between transportation infrastructure,
land use changes and urban development. New transportation infrastructure, according to their
theory, can have an impact on property and land use development, business/job opportunities,
and the city's image. As a result, those improvements may attract developers, investors,
companies, and households; all these individuals can contribute to the area's development.
Dueker and Bianco (1998) state that an increase in property prices in an area is one indication
of a transportation investment's benefit. Access to transportation services, according to
economic theory, should be integrated into property values.

The mass production of auto vehicles and the consumer preference of the latter pose a
significant challenge to integrated public transport – land use development. This has prompted
Bernick and Cervero (1997) to identify financial and political constraints as two significant
barriers to transit villages. They further cite that the consumer preference for low-density living
makes market viability of denser housing questionable in the eyes of the financial community.
In transit-oriented communities, a high level of cooperation is needed between transport
planners, real estate investors, politicians and local stakeholders. For instance, in their study on
the Portland LRT, Dueker and Bianco (1998) cite that decision-makers in the city have reached
a high level of agreement on the relationship between land use and transportation, as well as
for their vision of the city in the future.

Effect of LRT Use

Hall and Hass-Klau (1985) conducted the first international study on the influence of rail public
transportation on metropolitan areas. The initiative looked at how light, subterranean, urban
and suburban rails have affected the economic vibrancy of 15 municipalities (8 German and 7
British). Transit investments, according to the report, enable urban evolution and should be
designed in the context of the city's overall state. This showcases another example whereby
transportation project impacts land use development. Light rail services may brought forward
many benefits as a mode of transportation: Weinstock et al. (2011) identify commute time
reduction as one of the LRT's positive implications on the surrounding residential
neighbourhoods while Vanderschuren and Hitge (2015) note an increase in the aggregate
individual distance coverage. Reduction in transport cost is also mentioned as an advantage by
Hensher and King (1998) in addition to the increasing population density noted around the LRT
stations (Davis, 2008; David et al., 2015). In their study on the Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit
in Ethiopia, Deyas and Woldeamanuel (2020) argue that the use of LRT has a positive effect
on boosting the number of house renters in the city. They also reported an increase in the
number of home rentals in residential areas near LRT stations, resulting in an increase in the
density of the nearby residential community and leading to an improvement in the community's
social structure. Cervero (1984) also notes that light rail transit has a number of good effects,
including reinforcing existing neighbourhoods, revitalizing blighted regions, and encouraging
new development clusters around stations.
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Duncan (2011) states that the complementarity between transit access and mixed land use can
result in good exposure to both employment and non-work activities. In addition, rail transit
has a higher impact on house values when combined with a mixed land use development around
the stations. According to Li and Huang (2020), higher mixed land use is related to greater rail
transportation impacts on house prices. In relation to access, the non-motorised transportation
infrastructure is an important component of transit-oriented development and subsequently any
connectivity to public transportation systems. Bernick and Cervero (1997) find that walkability
can amplify the influence of rail transit on house values because the coordinated integration of
transit and pedestrian access possesses the capability to provide a sustainable option to driving.

The introduction of light rail transit can, however, have both beneficial and bad effects on the
existing communities along the route and around the station. For instance, Bowes and Ihlanfeldt
(2001) warn that light rail transit may have unanticipated negative consequences for
surrounding areas, such as noise pollution, increased crime, and nuisance effects. This is echoed
in Dueker and Bianco (1998) where it is found that living near an LRT station and rail line may
result in increased noise, traffic, pollution and other annoyances, as well as a drop in house
values. In addition, both Haque (2016) and Shen (2013) note that the segregation of
neighbouring areas is the most significant detrimental impact of LRT. In their study, Chen,
Rufolo and Dueker (2007) demonstrates that the convenient effect of being close to the station
outweighs the nuisance impact. Their findings imply that there is a positive price gradient in
terms of station accessibility. Locational accessibility however does not guarantee that people
are going to use light-rail transit over private motorisation, or development will shift away from
low-density housing. For instance, the empirical analysis of Dueker and Bianco (1998) on the
multifamily residential development and density shift in the eastern suburban area of Portland
shows that light rail on its own has not been enough to significantly change patterns of
development, car possession, and transit modal behaviour. This prompted the Portland society
of planners to adopt a neo-traditional planning strategy in an effort to make LRT work.
However, neo-traditional planners run the risk of overlooking actual, pressing demands by
emphasising the pricey LRT aspect of transit-oriented design. A strategy that prioritizes costly
light rail over expanded bus service, highways, and other transportation enhancements risks
alienating the majority of people who either do not live close to the light rail transit or who need
a car for family and lifestyle reasons.

Duncan (2011) and Mohammad et al. (2013) both agree that due to technical, situational and
locational influences, the impacts of rail transportation proximity on property value vary
dramatically between research. Song and Knaap (2003) further note that railway stations with
house prices at a premium are more noticeable in areas with higher density because low-density
growth is associated with vehicle reliance and thus diminishes the value of rail transit. This
hints that the set-up of rail lines in low density housing regions may not be profitably and
operationally viable. The absence of density and service was utilized by Yang et al. (2016) to
explain the minimal influence of transit on land price in suburban Beijing. Breznau (2004) and
Leach (2004) comment that because not all transit nodes in a particular region generate transit-
oriented settings, the differences of urban rail proximity premium can also be noticed locally.
As such, transit-oriented development and transit-adjacent development (TAD) can both be
locally present within the same transportation system. It is thus important that rail transit
planning does not segregate communities while trying to give access to others.
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Rail Land Value Capture

Land value capture (LVC) has been recognized as a funding and financing strategy that can be
utilized to assure the financial potential of rail services by addressing the budget restrictions
that come with providing them (Cervero and Murakami, 2009). Chang and Phang (2017) report
that LVC is used by the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR) to obtain roughly 50 percent
to 60 percent of its overall revenue while the majority of Tokyo Metro (Japan) rail transit firms
rely on LVC to produce between 20% and 60% of their income. According to Newmanel al.
(2018) and Dziauddin et al. (2015), there are three ways through which land value capture
(LVC) can be done effectively (Figure 4). The first one involves property developers partially
financing rail transit construction and operation in return for the development rights of land
surrounding transit hubs. The second way is to recompense the public rail transit agency by
marketing surrounding land at a premium to developers in return for money and shares. The
third option is to input health and well-being tax on land profiting from rail transit investment.
This should however be planned since there is a diverse land use development in a transit
proximity (Dziauddin, 2019).

Land Value Capture

Encourage Property
Developers to Partially Help Public Rail Transit Health and Well-Being
Finance Rail Transit Agency Sell Premium Tax on Land Profitting
Construction and Land for Development Rail Investment
Operation

Rights to
Profit Through Share
Development of Land Land Use - Transit
Sale and Monetary
Surrounding Transit Accessibility Tax
Gain
Hubs

Figure 4: Rail Land Value Capture Methods and Their Financial Return (Newmanel al. 2018;
Dziauddin et al. 2015)

According to Calthorpe (2004), the effects of public transportation on land value are uncommon
by themselves and depend heavily on circumstances that encourage transit use. This implies
that it is the policy set-up for the transit project that contributes to the development of land
around stations for TOD design. This is echoed in Li and Huang (2020) who claim that in order
to maximize the value of rail transit infrastructure, the authority should not only increase
accessibility, but also prioritize mixed land use development in transit-oriented environments.
Bartholomew and Ewing (2011) note that improving public transport accessibility alone may
result in transit-adjacent (TAD) rather than transit-oriented development (TOD).
 8

Li et al. (2022) mention three branches of knowledge when investigating LVC methods in cities
around the world:
• Impact of rail transit systems on land/property prices.
• Mechanisms used to generate revenue; this can either be tax-based or development-based.
• Promotion of accessibility-oriented framework in tandem with the analysis of factors
contributing to LVC success.
Upon studying land near railway lines, Li and Huang (2020) comment that the government
should levy higher land use fees on investors in mixed-use districts near rail lines, as these
locations harness the combined advantages of mixed land use and transportation proximity,
resulting in higher property costs. In Li and Love (2022), caution is given upon choosing the
type of revenue mechanism in a land use – railway project. In development – based LVC where
properties have their value increased owing to an improvement in either land or transport
infrastructure, a high amount of coordination is required to maximise the interaction between
the private and public stakeholders. This brings forth a higher transaction cost and
miscommunication among the different parties has the potential to threaten the project and the
expected result. Terrill (2017) notes that in tax – based LVC where a fee is extracted from
landowners close to the transit node, the challenge comes in the form that it is hard to convince
the population about the relationship between the increase in land value and the tax extracted
from tax payers. Li and Huang (2020) further comment that in respect to the promotion of
accessibility oriented LVC methods, variations in adjustable capture tax rates in mixed land use
regions may have adverse effect: local people may reject mixed land use development in
exchange for lower taxes.

Land value capture involves different stakeholders: public developers at municipal, provincial
and national level of the government and private ones whose interests lie in the profit capture
from land and transit development. Wang (2022) notes that there is a general satisfaction in
using land value capture across the various levels of government aforementioned. This
sentiment generally relates to the political and social benefit incurred. However, Huang and Du
(2017) and Wang and Hui (2017) emphasises that a low economic return from land value
capture reforms can be negatively perceived.
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Methodology
An issue tree was developed to ask the relevant questions in order to identify the different
characteristics that will be analysed. Chevallier (2016) states that an issue tree, also known as
a logic tree, helps explain a question in a graphical manner. From this, hypotheses were
developed to confirm whether the questions asked were affirmative. This was followed by an
analysis of the appropriate influencing characteristics that confirm whether the hypotheses
brought forward are factual.
Issue Tree I
The first issue looks at the characteristics that allow effective usage of light rail transit (Figure
5). This is further expanded into understanding what are the features that help attract riders to
LRT. In addition, the transport – land use integration is studied in order to understand the
relationship between the number of riders and the location of an LRT station in relation to the
land use around it. Because any public transit stops or stations act as an interchange during any
multi-modal trips, it is necessary to evaluate if the development of a light rail system
necessitates any improvement in other modes of transportation.

Does the development of

light rail transit alone (LRT)
guarantee that people will
be willing to use it?

Does a light-rail transit Does the land use around Does light rail development
system need specific the transit station affect the necessitate improvement in
features to attract riders? number of riders? other modes of mobility?

Figure 5: Main Issue Tree I

In answering the questions, it is understood that there is a need to input the necessary
accessibility and mobility infrastructures in order to ease the movement of people from the
transit station to their place of destination and vice-versa. Analysing the proportion of LRT
users relative to the demography of the region in proximity of the rail line is a necessary step
to deduce if the Mauritian Metro Express effectively attract riders. In addition, finding out the
proportion of mixed land use around the station is needed to evaluate whether the transit service
adheres to TOD requirements. In such process, the catchment intensity of the station is required
to be measured since there is a higher number of people around transit stations in mixed land
use areas. Furthermore, transit stations can operate as effective transportation interchanges if
they allow people to quickly change to other modes of transportation either through the
provision of services such as parking areas and feeder buses or through the design of dense and
safe interconnected non-motorised transportation (NMT) infrastructures.
 10

Issue Tree II
The second issue looks at the strategies which are needed for transit-oriented development to
occur (Figure 6). This is expanded into comparing TOD with development prioritising the use
of motor vehicles. Furthermore, due to the influence of land use over transportation and vice
versa, understanding how the development of public transport system affects the price of land
is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the Metro Express in adding value to the land
around its infrastructure. Transit-oriented development needs effective land value capture in
order to attract people in the catchment area of its transit stations. In addition, revenue obtained
from taxation and premium land sale helps in curbing the construction, operation and
maintenance cost of the transit system, and the latter’s relevant infrastructure upgrade. Policy
measures from the different global cities are studied to understand how their respective
administrations generate revenues from land value capture. Moreover, the quality of land use
development needs to be also studied in order to understand the travel behaviour of people.
Mixed land use development helps shorten trips made by people by giving access to a range of
activities and services within the same region. This helps in decreasing trips by car and increases
non-motorised trips such as walking and cycling.

Does transit-oriented
development (TOD)
necessitate any form of
strategies to be implemented?

Is transit-oriented development
Does transit-oriented
more advantageous compared Is mixed-land use development
development need any form of
to development prioritising important in furthering transit-
planning strategy in order to be
private motorised oriented development?
successful?
transportation?

Figure 6: Main Issue Tree II

Geographical Information Analysis

Maps of rail tracks passing through the cities of Addis Ababa, Tunis, Copenhagen, Hong Kong
and Portland were studied in order to understand how the rail network implemented helps in
transit-oriented development through the interaction between transportation networks and land
use. In addition, the rail network of Metro Express was also studied to compare the latter with
the examples used from other regions in the world. Google Earth and Open Street Map were
used for the GIS analysis.
 11

Research Limitation
The number of daily ridership was unfortunately not given by Metro Express Ltd because the
data is sensitive and can have political consequences. The number of light rail ridership was
thus calculated using the demographic data available for the studied region and the four – step
travel demand forecast method (Figure 7). According to Ahmed (2012), travel forecasting
models are used to anticipate variations in travel behaviour and in the use of transportation
system in reaction to changes in regional development, demography and supply of
transportation infrastructures. The four-step travel model is categorised into four different steps:
1. Trip Generation: The process of determining the number of daily trips taking place in a
region.
2. Trip Distribution: The process of linking geographically the daily trips from each zone by
matching origins with destinations.
3. Modal Split: The process of attributing to each transportation mode the number of daily
trips between an origin and a destination.
4. Trip Assignment: The process of allocating trips between an origin and destination by a
particular mode to a specific route.
Land use data is first collected, categorised and then fed into the computation of the number of
daily trips. The analysis stops at the modal split step since this is where the number of trips by
LRT is obtained.

Figure 7: Graphical Representation of the Four-Step Model (Metropolitan Washington Council

of Government, 2022)
 12

Analysis
Case Studies
Five different metro networks were studied in order to be compared with the Metro Express of
Mauritius. Those were:
• Tunis Light Metro in Tunis, Tunisia.
• Addis Ababa LRT in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
• Copenhagen Metro in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Mass Transit Rail (MTR) in Hong Kong, China.
• Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) in Portland, United States of America.
Tunis Light Metro
The Tunis Light Metro is a public transportation network for the Tunis Metropolitan Area which
makes use of a light rail system (Figure 8). The LRT system started its operation in 1985. The
main authority which manages the system is Transtu (Société des Transports de Tunis /
Transport Society of Tunis). The rail network has a total length of 45,2 km and 80 stations serve
along the 6 lines that are provided. As the capital, Tunis has a population of 693,210 and
accounts approximately 5% of Tunisia’s overall population which sits at 11,818,619 according
to the UN data from mid-year count in 2020 (UN Report 2020). Tunis has a land area of 212.3
km2. The metro system covers an average ridership of 350,000 people according to KUNA
(2015).

Figure 8: Tunis LRT Network (Open Street Map)

 13

Addis Ababa Light Rail

The Addis Ababa Light Rail is a public rail transit service in Addis Ababa which started its
operation in 2015 (Figure 9). The rail track network is 31,6 km in length and has 39 stations. It
currently serves on two lines. The Ethiopian Railways Corporation and the Shenzhen Metro
Group are the main operators of the light rail system. Addis Ababa covers a land mass of 527
km2 and has a population of 5,228,000 (Macrotrend, 2022). The LRT system has approximately
153, 405 passengers riding daily according to Alade et al. (2019).

Figure 9: Addis Ababa LRT Network (Open Street Map)

 14

Copenhagen Metro
The Copenhagen Metro is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system which operates in the city of
Copenhagen, Denmark (Figure 10). The service can deliver transportation facilities 24/7 and
serves 4 lines along a 38,2 km rail length. There are a total of 39 stations along the routes and
25 of them are underground. The system is owned by Metroselskabet, a public company owned
by the municipalities of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, and the Danish Ministry of Transport.
Copenhagen has a population of 1,370,000 (Macrotrend 2022) and a land area of 179 km2. The
Copenhagen Metro is used daily by 220 000 passengers (Metroselskabet 2020).

Figure 10: Copenhagen Rail Network and Train Stations (Open Street Map)
 15

Hong Kong MTR

The Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway is a public transportation network which serves the
special administrative zone of Hong Kong (Figure 11). It consists of a network of heavy rail,
light rail and feeder bus service which centre their operation around 10 rapid transit lines. The
area served are the island of Hong Kong, the reclaimed region of Kowloon and the New
Territories, and there is approximately 4,962,000 passengers every day. The main operator of
the service is the MTR Corporation. Hong Kong has a population of 7,413,070 according to its
2021 Population Census and a landmass of approximately 1, 114 km2 (Land Department Hong
Kong SAR Government, 2021).

Figure 11: Hong Kong MRT and Train Stations (Open Street Map)
 16

Portland LRT
The Portland Light Rail Transit service which goes under the name of Metropolitan Area
Express (MAX) is a light rail system which serves the Metropolitan Area of Portland in the
state of Oregon, United States of America (Figure 12). 120, 900 people use the service on a
daily routine (TriMet Service and Ridership Information, 2018). The transportation service
operates on 5 lines and can be accessed through 94 stations along a network of length 96,1 km.
The City of Portland has an area of 346 km2 and a population of 652, 503 according to the 2020
US Census (United States Census Bureau 2020).

Figure 12: Portland LRT and Train Stations (Open Street Map)
 17

Mauritius LRT
Plaines Wilhems Population Distribution
Most people living in the four towns of the district of Plaines Wilhems reside near the main
roads which run through the region (Figure 13 and Figure 14). Based on the region, the main
roads have the following names:
• Royal Road Beau Bassin, Royal Road Rose Hill and Royal Road Belle Rose in the
Municipality of Beau Bassin – Rose Hill.
• Remy Ollier Avenue between Belle Rose and Quatre Bornes.
• Berthaud Street, Palma Road and St. Jean Road in the Municipality of Quatre Bornes.
• Candos Vacoas Road between Quatre Bornes and Vacoas.
• Saint Paul Road, Vacoas La Marie Road, John Kennedy Road, Royal Road Phoenix and
Royal Road Castel in the Municipality of Vacoas - Phoenix.
• Royal Road Eau Coulée, Royal Road Curepipe and Royal Road Forest Side in the
Municipality of Curepipe.
These roads offer a high accessibility to the residential suburbs located around them, effectively
acting as major distributors. They also hold commercial facilities, offices and other types of
workplaces along their network, making them places of destinations for various trips (Figure
15). The district of Plaines Wilhems also holds the region of Ebene which is a major office
destination place. It is however disconnected from the main roads and is accessible from the
highway.

Figure 13: Main Roads in Northern Part of Plaines Wilhems District (Open Street 2021)
 18

Figure 14: Main Roads in Southern Part of Plaines Wilhems District (Open Street Map 2021)

Figure 15: Work and Residential Land Use in Plaines Wilhems District (Google Earth)
 19

Plaines Wilhems – Port Louis LRT Daily Ridership Estimation

According to Stats Mauritius, the district of Plaines Wilhems has a population of 369, 242
people and an employment rate of 94% in 2011 (Table 1 ). In addition, the proportion of people
between the age of 15 and 64 years old comprises 71.7% of the district’s population. This
correlates to approximately 67% of the people in the region having an employment. Most of
the residence in the district is concentrated in the towns, those being: Beau Bassin – Rose Hill,
Quatre Bornes, Vacoas – Phoenix and Curepipe. The four towns englobe nearly 99% of the
population of the district.

Regarding the type of households, a normal one consists of two parents living with their
children and possibly one or two grandparents (Table 2). A one-person household consists of a
single unmarried person who is above 18 but below 64 years old. A female-led household
consists of an unmarried woman above 18 years who is employed and lives with her retired
parents. A one parent with unmarried children household consists of either a widow, a widower
or a divorcee with children under the age of 15 years old. An elderly household consists of
people above the age of 64 years old without children. According to the data obtained, on
average 51.3% of the households are considered normal while 22.1% are female-led. Elderly
households constitute about 22.1% of all households while about 11.8% of all households are
registered as one person. Single parent households make up 8.4 % of all the households.
Table 1: Demographic Details of Plaines Wilhems District (Stats Mauritius 2011)

Region Population Population Age Group of Employment Commuting

Density People Rate to Port
Louis
< 15 – 64 >
15 64
Plaines 369, 242 1, 847 10.3 71.7 18.0 94.0 % 25, 597
Wilhems people / km2 % % %

Table 2: Demographic Details of Towns in Plaines Wilhems (Stats Mauritius 2011)

Region Population Unemployment Type of Households

Population Rate Normal One Female Elderly One
Ratio Person Led Parent &
Children
Beau Bassin – 105, 337 6.1 48.4 12.5 23.3 6.9 8.9
Rose Hill 0.286 % % % % % %

Quatre 77, 417 5.9 50.1 12.3 22.3 6.9 8.4

Bornes 0.210 % % % % % %

Vacoas – 106, 418 6.7 57.8 9,6 19,6 5,1 7,9

Phoenix 0.289 % % % % % %

Curepipe 79, 519 5.8 48.9 12,6 23.0 7.1 8,4

0.215 % % % % % %

SUM 368, 691

AVERAGE 6.1 51.3 11.8 22.1 6.5 8.4
% % % % % %
 20

The number of cars has seen an increase on the island of Mauritius between the period of 2011
and 2021: the figure changed from 136, 225 to 334, 104 registered vehicles, indicating an
increase by 145.3 % during the last decade (Table 3). The labour force of the country has
however decreased by 4.3% from 579, 300 to 554, 800. The ratio of car to employed people
has also shown an increase: in 2011, there were 2 cars for every 9 employed people; in 2021,
this figure increased to 3 cars for every 5 employed people. From these results, it can be
presumed that there has been an increase in the number of cars per household across the island
and consequently, in the towns of Plaines Wilhems also.
Table 3: Change in Mauritian Population and Number of Registered Cars from 2011 to 2021
(Stats Mauritius 2011, Stats Mauritius 2021, CEIC 2017 and CIEC 2021)

2011 2021 % Change

Mauritian Population 1, 211, 970 1, 263, 888 + 4.3 %
Number of Cars 136, 225 334, 104 + 145. 3 %
Labour Force 579, 300 554, 800 - 4.3 %
Car per Employed 0.235 0.602 + 156.3 %
People

Using the car per employed people ratio and the figure obtained for the number of people
commuting to Port Louis, the number of commuters using private motorisation can be
estimated. By assuming a conservative, moderate and extreme value for the ratio of modal split,
the ridership value of the LRT system can be estimated within the reasonable boundary limit.
The extreme limit relates to the maximum car per employed people observed (Figure 16). A
moderate modal split relates to a 5% decrease in car trips and a corresponding increase in public
transport trips. A conservative modal split decreases the percentage of car trips by 10% and
increases that of public transport by the same amount. The modal split for carpooling is assumed
to be constant and is estimated to be 5% of the total modal split. Considering the decrease of
4.3% in the number of employable people between 2011 and 2021, the labour force contributing
to the Plaines Wilhems – Port Louis trips for 2021 can be assumed to be 95.7% of that of 2011
(Table 4). The extreme, moderate and conservative figure obtained for public transportation
ridership between Plaines Wilhelms and Port Louis are respectively 8524, 9749 and 10974 trips.

Extreme Moderate Cons ervative

34.80 39.80
% 44.80
% 50.20
55.20 %
60.20 %
%
%
5%
5% 5%

Car Carpool Public Transport Car Carpool Public Transport Car Carpool Public Transport

Figure 16: Modal Split between Car, Carpooling and Public Transport for Commuters from the
Plaines Wilhems Region
 21

Table 4: Modal Split of Commuters from Plaines Wilhems Region in 2021

Modal Split Car Public Transport Car Pool

Plaines Wilhems Labour Force Going To Port Louis in 2021 = 24, 496 (95.7% of 25, 597)
Extreme Ratio 0.602 0.348 0.05
Ridership (Extreme) 14, 747 8, 524 1, 225
Moderate Ratio 0.552 0.398 0.05
Ridership (Moderate) 13, 522 9, 749 1, 225
Conservative Ratio 0.502 0.448 0,05
Ridership (Conservative) 12, 297 10, 974 1, 225

The number of public transportation users in each town from the District of Plaines Wilhems is
calculated using the ratio of population of town to district from Table 3 (Table 5). The modal
split between light rail and bus services is taken to be 50:50. Since the LRT service at the time
of the research was operating only in the towns of Beau Bassin – Rose Hill and Quatre Bornes,
the modal split ratio for LRT was taken as zero for the towns of Curepipe and Vacoas. A
conservative value of 2722 commute LRT trips to Port Louis from both Beau Bassin – Rose
Hill and Quatre Bornes is obtained while the extreme and moderate values are 2114 and 2418
respectively.
Table 5: LRT Ridership from Each Towns of Plaines Wilhems Commuting to Port Louis

Towns Beau Bassin – Quatre Bornes Vacoas - Curepipe

Rose Hill Phoenix
Population Ratio 0.286 0.210 0.289 0.215
(Town to District)
Public Transport 2, 438 1, 790 2, 463 1, 833
Ridership
(Extreme)
Public Transport 2, 788 2, 047 2, 817 2, 096
Ridership
(Moderate)
Public Transport 3, 139 2, 305 3, 171 2, 359
Ridership
(Conservative)
LRT: Bus 50: 50 50: 50 0: 100 0: 100
Modal Split
LRT Ridership 1, 219 895 0 0
(Extreme)
LRT Ridership 1, 394 1, 024
(Moderate)
LRT Ridership 1, 569 1, 152 0 0
(Conservative)
Total LRT Commute Ridership for Port Louis
Extreme 2, 114 0
Moderate 2, 418 0
Conservative 2, 722 0
 22

Plaines Wilhems Intra-Regional Commute Trip Generation

The 2021 population is estimated by the percentage change obtained for the Mauritian
population between 2011 and 2021 from Table 3 (Table 6). The assumption is that the
population growth in each town has increased homogeneously in accordance with the general
population increase of the island. From this, the town population is classified in terms of age
groups in accordance with the data from Table 1, and the local labour force is calculated. The
number of commute trips from Plaines Wilhems to Port Louis, obtained in Table 4, is divided
among each town based on the town to district ratio obtained from Table 3. By removing the
number of trips to Port Louis, the number of intra – regional commute trip is calculated (Table
7).
Table 6: Inter Regional Commute Trip Computation

Towns Beau Bassin – Quatre Bornes Vacoas - Curepipe

Rose Hill Phoenix
Population
2011 Population 105, 337 77, 417 106, 418 79, 519
2021 Calculated 109, 866 80, 746 110, 994 82, 938
Population
Age Group (x)
x < 15 11, 316 8, 317 11, 432 8, 543
15 < x < 64 78, 774 57, 895 79, 583 59, 467
x > 64 19, 776 14, 534 19, 979 14, 929
Labour Force
% Employed 93, 9 94, 1 93, 3 94, 2
Number of 73, 969 54, 479 74, 251 56, 028
Employed People
Table 7: Number of Commuter Trips from each Town of Plaines Wilhems

Towns Beau Bassin – Quatre Bornes Vacoas - Curepipe

Rose Hill Phoenix
Population Ratio 0.286 0.210 0.289 0.215
(Town to District)
Port Louis Trips
Commuters 7, 006 5, 144 7, 079 5, 267

Intra Region
Commute Trips 66, 963 49, 335 67, 127 50, 751

The intra-regional trip number is then distributed among the different suburbs of the region
(Figure 17). From this, the travel links are categorised in terms of work trip ratio based on land
use properties. The region of Ebene Cybercity in the Plaine Wilhems District is a major
economic hub and holds numerous office areas. It is assumed that 90% of the land use attraction
of the region is for work purpose and 10 % of its land accounts for low-density housing (Table
8). The towns of Beau Bassin – Rose Hill, Quatre Bornes, Vaxoas – Phoenix and Curepipe hold
mainly residential agglomeration and the latter is presumed to be 80 % of the land factor while
20 % of the land relates to employment – related land use. The relative percentage of work trips
for each region is then calculated. The number of trips which gets distributed into each location
is calculated using an origin – destination (OD) matrix (Equation 1). The results are displayed
in Table 9 and the trip between Quatre Bornes and Beau Bassin – Rose Hill are isolated for
further analysis since these are the regions where the LRT is operating.
 23

Figure 17: Intra Regional Trip Links in Plaine Wilhems District (Open Street Map)
 24

Table 8: Land Use of Different Zones in the Plaine Wilhems District

Region Beau Bassin Quatre Bornes Vacoas - Curepipe Ebene

– Rose Hill Phoenix Cybercity
Land Use
Residential 80 % 80 % 80 % 80 % 10 %
Work 20 % 20 % 20 % 20 % 90 %

Relative
0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.53
Work Trip Ratio

Equation 1: 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧 – 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐱 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐩 𝐓

𝑻𝒊𝒋 = 𝑷𝒊 × 𝑨𝒋

𝑷𝟏 𝑨 𝟏 … 𝑷𝟏 𝑨 𝒊
𝑻𝒊𝒋 = [ ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ ]
𝑷𝒊 𝑨 𝟏 … 𝑷𝒊 𝑨 𝒋

Where,
𝑻𝒊𝒋 = 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝐺𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝒊 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝒋
𝑷𝒊 = 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝒊
𝑨𝒋 = 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑇𝑟𝑖𝑝 𝐴𝑡𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝒋

Table 9: O-D Matrix Result for Intra Regional Trips in the Plaine Wilhems District

Work Trip Attraction Ratio (𝑨𝒋 )

Beau Bassin – Quatre Vacoas - Curepipe Ebene
Rose Hill Bornes Phoenix Cybercity
0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12 0.12
Beau Bassin – Rose Hill 66963 7878 7878 7878 7878 35451
Trips (𝑷𝒊 )
Regional

Quatre Bornes 49335 5804 5804 5804 5804 26119

Vacoas - Phoenix 67127 7897 7897 7897 7897 35538
Curepipe 50751 5971 5971 5971 5971 26868
 25

LRT Trips from Beau Bassin – Rose Hill and Quatre Borne
Trips within the region of Beau Bassin – Rose Hill were evaluated to be 7878 while those
between the towns of Beau Bassin – Rose Hill and Quatre Bornes was calculated to be 13682
(Table 10). Using the modal split criteria from Figure 16, the public transport ridership for the
intra – regional trips within Beau Bassin – Rose Hill and for the journey Beau Bassin – Rose
Hill to and from Quatre Bornes is calculated in accordance with the extreme, moderate and
conservative parameters (Table 11).

Table 10: Commute Trips for Beau Bassin - Rose Hill - Quatre Bornes Travel Link

Route Beau Bassin – Rose Hill to and Beau Bassin – Rose Hill Intra Trip
from
Quatre Bornes Trip
Commute Trips 13, 682 7,878

Table 11: Modal Split of Commute Trips in Beau Bassin - Rose Hill and Quatre Bornes

Modal Split Car Public Car Pool NMT

Transport
Trip Beau Bassin – Rose Hill to and from Quatre Bornes = 13, 682
Extreme Ratio 0.602 0.348 0.05 0.05
Ridership (Extreme) 7, 552 4, 761 684 684
Median Ratio 0.552 0.398 0.05 0.05
Ridership (Moderate) 6, 868 5, 445 684 684
Conservative Ratio 0.502 0.448 0,05 0.05
Ridership (Conservative) 6, 184 6, 130 684 684
Intra Trip in Beau Bassin – Rose Hill = 7, 878
Extreme Ratio 0.602 0.348 0.05 0.05
Ridership (Extreme) 4, 349 2, 742 394 394
Median Ratio 0.552 0.398 0.05 0.05
Ridership (Moderate) 3, 955 3, 135 394 394
Conservative Ratio 0.502 0.448 0,05 0.05
Ridership (Conservative) 3, 561 3, 529 394 394

Using a modal split of 50:50 relative to the use of LRT and bus, the number of LRT trips within
the region of Plaines Wilhems is calculated (Table 12). The values obtained are then added to
the number of ridership calculated for the trip Plaines Wilhems – Port Louis. In the extreme
case, there is a total of 5866 trips while the moderate value stands at 6708 (Table 13). The
conservative figure has been evaluated at 7552 trips. While commuters form a big part of the
total passengers of the Metro Express LRT, students and elderly people also make use of the
transportation services. According to Table 1, students make nearly 11% of the population
while people over the age of 64 years old account for 18% of the population. From these
observations, it was assumed that trips with destination as school would bring forth an increase
of 20% in the number of LRT trips. The same assumption was held for trips made by elderly
people: their contribution would increase the number of trips by 20%. As such, the result for
the factored number of LRT trips was obtained as 8446, 9660 and 10874 for the extreme,
moderate and conservative parameters respectively (Table 14).
 26

Table 12: LRT Ridership for Plaines Wilhems Intra - Regional Commute Trips

Route Beau Bassin – Rose Hill to and from Beau Bassin – Rose Hill Intra
Quatre Bornes Trip Trip
Public Transport 4, 761 2, 742
Ridership
(Extreme)
Public Transport 5, 445 3, 135
Ridership
(Moderate)
Public Transport 6, 130 3, 529
Ridership
(Conservative)
LRT : Bus 50 : 50 50 : 50
Modal Split
LRT Ridership 2, 381 1, 371
(Extreme)
LRT Ridership 2, 723 1, 568
(Moderate)
LRT Ridership 3, 065 1, 765
(Conservative)
Total Plaines Wilhems LRT Ridership
Extreme 3, 752
Moderate 4, 290
Conservative 4, 830

Table 13: Total LRT Commute Trips

Trip Port Louis – Plaine Wilhems Plaine Wilhems Intra - Regional Total
Extreme 2, 114 3, 752 5, 866
Moderate 2, 418 4, 290 6, 708
Conservative 2, 722 4, 830 7, 552

Table 14: Factored LRT Trip Estimation

Trip Commute School Trips Elder Trips Total

Trips Coefficient Coefficient
Extreme 5, 866 1.2 1.2 8, 446
Moderate 6, 708 1.2 1.2 9, 660
Conservative 7, 552 1.2 1.2 10, 874
 27

Metro Ridership Comparison

To evaluate the TOD value of the Metro Express LRT, variables related to the metro system in
each of the case studies regions are compared. From this a conclusion is drawn on what is
needed for a city to develop towards a development strategy centred around the use of transit
services.
Station – Station Distance
The average distance between each station is first calculated by dividing the length of the rail
track with the number of stations (Equation 2). If, based on the literature review, it is presumed
that a station serves as a node around which a transit village develops, then Equation 2 is meant
to understand how far the transit villages are from one another. Tunis records the smallest
distance between stations at 565 m while Addis Ababa and Copenhagen come second and third
with a station-to-station distance of 810 m and 979 m respectively (Table 15). Portland,
Mauritius and Hong Kong follow and sequentially have a station to station distance of 1022 m,
1350 m and 1352 m.

Equation 2: 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝑹𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 (𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒆)
𝑫𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒆) =
𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Table 15: Distance Between Stations for Observed Regions

Regions Addis Copenhagen Hong Kong Portland Tunis Mauritius

Ababa
Rail Track
Length 31.6 38.2 210.9 96.1 45.2 10.8
(km)
Stations 39 39 156 94 80 8
Distance
Between 810 979 1352 1022 565 1350
Station (m)

Catchment Intensity, Catchment Area and Catchment Radius

According to Andersen and Landex (2008), a public transportation catchment area is defined
as the area surrounding a public transit line’s stop or station. This is where most non-transfer
passengers who arrive at a designated stop or station originates. From this understanding, the
catchment radius can be seen as the distance needed for transit riders to walk or cycle to reach
the stop or station. A small catchment area, and thereby a small catchment radius, indicates that
there is a high level of densification around the station and thus is an indication of transit-
oriented development.

The average catchment intensity per station is first calculated by dividing the amount of
ridership with the number of station (Equation 3). This is an indication of the number of person
that the average station can attract. Hong Kong tops the ranking by having stations that are each
able to attract 31808 passengers (Table 16). Copenhagen, Tunis and Addis Ababa all follow
with a catchment intensity per station of 5641, 4375 and 3933 respectively. Portland shows a
 28

result of 1286 passengers per station while in Mauritius, the figures for the extreme, moderate
and conservative parameters are sequentially 1056, 1207 and 1359.

Equation 3: 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝑴𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒐 𝑹𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑 (𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏)

𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑷𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏) =
𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Table 16: Result of Catchment Intensity Per Station

Regions Addis Copenhagen Hong Kong Portland Tunis Mauritius

Ababa
8, 446
(E)
Metro 153, 405 220, 000 4, 962, 000 120, 900 350, 000 9, 660
Ridership (M)
10, 874
(C)
1, 056
Catchment (E)
Intensity 3, 933 5, 641 31, 808 1, 286 4, 375 1, 207
Per Station (M)
1, 359
(C)

To obtain the catchment area per station, the population density of the region is first calculated
by dividing its population with the land area it covers (Equation 4). Addis Ababa has the highest
population density with a figure of 9920 persons per km2 (Table 17). Copenhagen and Hong
Kong follow with a population density of 7654 and 6656 persons per km2 respectively.
Mauritius and Tunis come next sequentially with a figure of 3986 and 3265 persons per km2.
The population and land area used for Mauritius relate to the regions of Beau Bassin – Rose
Hill and Quatre Bornes. Portland comes last with a population density of 1926 persons per km2.

Equation 4: 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏)

𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏/𝒌𝒎𝟐 ) =
𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒌𝒎𝟐 )

Table 17: Population Density Land Area to Station Results for Observed Regions

Regions Addis Copenhagen Hong Kong Portland Tunis Mauritius

Ababa
Population 5, 228, 000 1, 370, 131 7, 413, 070 652, 503 693,210 182, 754
Land Area
(km2) 527 179 1, 114 346 212 45.8
Population
Density 9, 920 7, 654 6, 656 1, 886 3, 265 3, 986
 29

The land area to station ratio is calculated by dividing the land area of the region with the
number of stations it holds (Equation 5). The land area per rail track length is obtained by
dividing the land area of the region with total length of the rail track (Equation 6). These
parameters relate to how much the rail network spreads within the region. A high figure in both
indicates that the area is large and not all its entirety is covered with rail lines. Addis Ababa
comes first with a land area per station of 13.51 km2 and a land area per rail track length of
16.68 km2/km. Portland, Mauritius, Copenhagen and Hong Kong respectively have 3.68 km2,
5.73 km2, 4.59 km2 and 7.14 km2 as land area to station ratio, and values of 3.60 km2/km, 4.24
km2/km, 4.69 km2/km and 5.28 km2/km. Tunis has the smallest land area to station ratio, with
a figure of 2.65 km2 and a land area per rail track 4.70 km2/km. Compared to Addis Ababa, the
small figures obtained for Tunis, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Portland and Mauritius indicate that
their rail system operates within a small area since there are more stations and rail track lines
per unit area of the region.

Equation 5: 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒌𝒎𝟐 )

𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝑻𝒐 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐 (𝒌𝒎𝟐 ) =
𝑵𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Equation 6: 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐑𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐋𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒌𝒎𝟐 )

𝑳𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝑷𝒆𝒓 𝑹𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 (𝒌𝒎𝟐 /𝒌𝒎) =
𝑹𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑳𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉 (𝒌𝒎)

Table 18: Results of Land Area to Station

Regions Addis Copenhagen Hong Kong Portland Tunis Mauritius

Ababa
Land Area
To Station 13.51 4.59 7.14 3.68 2.65 5.73
Ratio
(km2)
Land Area
Per Rail
Track 16.68 4.69 5.28 3.60 4.70 4.24
Length
(km2 / km)

The catchment area per station is calculated by dividing the population density of the region
with the station’s catchment intensity (Equation 7). The catchment radius can be further
calculated by taking the square root of the catchment area divided by Pi (Equation 8). The
results show that the stations in Hong Kong need an area of 0.21 km2 to catch passengers (Table
19). This explains the highly dense nature of the settlement whereby TOD approach has been
taken to maximise the absorption of trips by the metro system: the average rider needs to walk
only 258 m to reach a station. Tunis, Copenhagen and Portland come next, each respectively
having stations which have catchment area of 0.76 km2, 1.36 km2 and 1.50 km2. This means
that the average train passenger walks a distance of 487 m, 657 m and 690 m in Tunis,
Copenhagen and Portland respectively. In Addis Ababa, a passenger would walk 896 m. The
parameters taken for the LRT ridership in the regions of Beau Bassin, Rose Hill and Quatre
Bornes all have a catchment area close to 3 km2 or above. This means that the average passenger
walks a distance of approximately 1 km to reach the LRT station.
 30

Equation 7: 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐀𝐫𝐞𝐚 𝐏𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏
𝑷𝒐𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 ( ⁄ 𝟐)
𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝑷𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒌𝒎𝟐 ) = 𝒌𝒎
𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝑷𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏)

Equation 8: 𝐂𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐬 𝐏𝐞𝐫 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑨𝒓𝒆𝒂 𝑷𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏

𝑪𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑹𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝑷𝒆𝒓 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 (𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒆) = √ × 𝟏𝟎𝟎𝟎
𝝅

Table 19: Results for Catchment Area and Radius, and Land Area to Station Ratio

Regions Addis Copenhagen Hong Kong Portland Tunis Mauritius

Ababa
3.78
Catchment (E)
Area Per 2.52 1.36 0.21 1.47 0.75 3.30
Station (M)
(km2) 2.93
(C)
1, 096
Catchment (E)
Radius Per 896 657 258 683 487 1, 025
Station (M)
(m) 966
(C)

Graphical Analysis
Mapping the relationship between catchment radius per station and distance between stations
show that Hong Kong has a very small catchment radius and the distances between the stations
is big (Error! Reference source not found.). This means that there is there is a very high
densification of mixed land use development at these nodes and the latter are far apart. Portland
and Copenhagen come next, each having a relatively big distance close to 1 km between their
stations and an average walking to station distance of approximately 675 m. Tunis has a small
station-to-station distance which is nearly equal to the walking distance of a passenger to the
station. On the other hand, a passenger needs a longer distance in Addis Ababa and the latter is
nearly equal to the distance between the stations. This means that there is a homogenous level
of development along the rail lines in Addis Ababa and Tunis; in the case of the latter, the
stations are built closer. In the case of Mauritius, the result shows that the stations are further
apart, and the passengers need to walk on average a distance of 1 km to get to a station. The
latter is also far from the next transit point; on average, they are 1.35 km apart.
`
 31

Figure 18: Relationship Between Catchment Radius and Distance Between Stations

The low figure obtained for Hong Kong catchment area signifies that there are a lot of people
around the station and, coupled with a relatively high land area to train station ratio, denotes
that there is an extensive network of metro services within a small region. The latter however
represents a small fraction of the area of the aggregate region (Figure 19). This showcases an
efficient use of transport – related land use at nodes and links. Tunis comes second in regard to
small catchment area, and along with its small land area to station ratio, shows that its railway
line is extensive within the urbanised region and is efficient at its operation. The general
difference between the results of Hong Kong and Tunis is due to the geographical challenges
of both: the mountains in Hong Kong affect the land use percentages. Tunis lies on a plain,
making the land development favourable, and thus contributing to the built environment and
transportation infrastructure having a higher percentage of the land use. Portland and
Copenhagen also have low catchment areas. Similar to Tunis, their rail infrastructure takes a
noticeable proportion of their total land use. In Addis Ababa, a station can be seen every 13.5
km2 of land and people on average walks a distance greater than those in the regions
aforementioned in the study. Addis Ababa has a large land surface area, and its LRT line
operates in a small region relative to the city. This also increases the catchment radius of the
stations since people needs to walk a higher distance to reach the latter. Mauritius has a low
land area to train station ratio but a high catchment area. The latter indicates that there is the
presence of residential land use within a locus of approximately 3 km2 around the station.
 32

Figure 19: Relationship Between Catchment Area of Station and Land Area to Train Station
Ratio
 33

Transit-Oriented Development Criteria

Based on the results of the analysis and knowing that Tunis, Portland, Copenhagen and Hong
Kong have transit – oriented development strategy in their transport planning system, it can be
assumed that a TOD city centred around rail network needs to have:
• A low land area to train station ratio since this effectively demonstrates that the metro
line is extensive in the city.
• A small catchment radius and catchment area: these two criteria demonstrate that there
is a high level of densification around the station.
• A catchment radius which is smaller than the station-to-station distance: this
demonstrates the existence of distinct transit villages. If the aforementioned variables
are close to each other, they both need to be close to the minimum walking distance to
a transit station which is assumed to be about 500 m.
From these boundary conditions, a perimeter can be drawn upon around which a region is
designed for transit-oriented development relative to the placement of its stations and the
walking distance people have undergo to reach the latter (Error! Reference source not
found.). Beneath the minimum walking distance of 500 m, a region is adaptable for TOD
because any distance within this boundary is attainable using non-motorised transportation, that
is, walking and cycling. The line of equal distance between the catchment radius and the station-
to-station distance acts as the second boundary: underneath it, the stations’ catchment radius is
small when compared to the distance between them, signifying that there is a higher
densification of residential floor spaces around them. On the other hand, a catchment radius
greater than the station-to-station distance and the minimum walking distance signifies that
there is a homogenous density of residential land within an area holding two or more transit
stations. This goes in contradiction with the definition of a transit village which promotes the
development of compact land use. This homogenous density of residences is a consequence of
urban sprawl due to a prioritisation of private motorised vehicles as main mode of transportation
and the subsequent development of low-density residences to accommodate the latter. The third
boundary presented is a theoretical maximum walking distance within an urban space; in this
research, the latter has been taken as 1000 m. Above this figure, walking to the station becomes
a physical burden and people tend to switch to private motorisation either when the opportunity
brings itself or due to life events. In regard to the land use of the country, this higher walking
distance signifies that the region is populated with residences at a lower density, thus hinting at
urban sprawl. In a region where the walking distance is higher than the maximum urban walking
distance, but the transit catchment radius is smaller than the station-to-station distance, a mixed
TOD-urban sprawl region is developed. The latter has a mixed land use which supports the
transit operations at the nodal points but changes into residential-only sprawl when moving
away.

Addis Ababa and Mauritius both have high catchment radius which signifies that there is not
enough densification around their transit nodes. It is noteworthy to point out that both Addis
Ababa and Mauritius have catchment radii which are larger than 500 m and which are similar
in figures to the station-to-station distance. This could be a by-product of urban sprawl which
has induced low to medium density development along such distance. This phenomenon has in
consequent influenced the transport planning process of the LRT line along with the placement
of transit stations. More research has to be done on such theme, however.
 34

Tunis, Copenhagen, Hong Kong and Portland satisfy these three conditions. Mauritius would
be able to satisfy these requirements if there is a higher number of LRT riders. However, its
high catchment radius position which is close to the maximum walking distance puts it in a
precarious position since any negative LRT operation may induce passengers to switch to
private motorisation or other forms of alternatives. Addis Ababa does not meet the contraints
imposed due to its high catchment radius. Just like Mauritius, it needs to have a higher number
of LRT riders to be regarded as TOD region in regards to walking to transit station distance.

Figure 20: Distance Boundary for TOD Planning

 35

Transport Planning
The route assignment section of the four steps travel demand forecasting model has a heavy
influence on the operation of public transport services in agglomerations emphasising transit-
oriented development. This is due to its impact on the development of the land along the railway
lines and the transit stations. As such, the geographical data of the Metro Express LRT and the
surrounding area is studied in order to understand the transport planning strategy taken during
the construction of the project and its TOD potential.
Transit Adjacent Development (TAD)
A public transportation system which promotes a transit-oriented development needs a
considerable density of people in its vicinity to be effective. This helps in maximising the
attractivity of ridership by decreasing the walking or cycling distance. In addition, this higher
accessibility helps in increasing the land value of residential and commercial properties close
to the transit station. There are however instances where the Metro Express line does not follow
this trend and thus compromises its passenger attraction potential. An example is seen on the
line between the station at Barkly and that of Coromandel (Figure 21). The line passes through
sugar cane fields instead of being connected to the suburbs of Chebel, Montréal and
Coromandel. This is a case of transit-adjacent development (TAD) and does not allow the
people in the area to easily access the light rail system (Figure 22). This forces the people in the
aforementioned regions to either use private motorised transportation or public bus services
which operates on the Royal Road of Beau Bassin. In addition, the rail line impacts the land it
is built on since it may promote the conversion of agriculture lands into real estate projects.

Figure 21: Rail Passing Through Sugar Cane Field in Plaines Wilhems, Mauritius (Google
Earth)
 36

Figure 22: Barkly – Coromandel TAD Rail Section (Open Street Map 2021)

Transit-oriented development necessitates compact land use strategy in order to provide a

sustainable solution to how land is used. For instance, a piece of land has the highest potential
value when it is left untouched since it is a greenfield and any form of development may occur
on it. This potential value is also influenced in cases where the greenfield land has mining or
rainwater catchment capacity. TOD in Hong Kong offers an interesting case study where the
compaction of development is brought to its maximum extent. The land area is predominantly
natural land, and the settlements are situated in dense urban areas on the coast or at border with
Shenzhen (Figure 23). Instead of using greenfield for construction projects, there is a higher
emphasis towards reclaiming land from the sea (Figure 24). According to the Hong Kong SAR
(2020), the region is made up of more than 50% of woodlands, shrubs and other types of
vegetations (Figure 25). This emphasis on conserving natural land promotes a densification of
settlements and consequently a compaction of urban areas. The obligation of the transport
infrastructure to blend into the urban areas instead of starting such projects on greenfield lands
has promoted the creation of nodes and consequently the intensification of non-motorised
transportation around them. Furthermore, policies favouring mixed land use development
around them has promoted the creation of the macro-TOD region. If a mixed land use strategy
is not emphasised, the creation of TAD regions becomes more prominent, and the public
transportation system loses part of its patronage due to inaccessibility of transit stations.
 37

Figure 23: Hong Kong Relief Features (Google Earth)

Figure 24: Land Use Map of Hong Kong (DeWolf 2019)

 38

Figure 25: Hong Kong Land Use in 2020 (Tableau)

 39

Rail Line – Highway Segregation

The construction of a rail track parallel to a highway creates a segregating effect whereby
people are not able to easily cross the road. Doing so requires the construction of either a bridge
or a subway, and thus offers crossing point at designated locations which necessitate physical
effort to reach. Such an example is seen by the rail track which runs along the motorway M1
from Saint Jean to Phoenix (Figure 26). The line has not opened yet, but its choice of route
during the traffic assignment phase has the potential to have a negative effect on the catchment
capacity of the station. The region has been developed with distinct land use with commercial
infrastructure on one side of the highway and the residential suburbs of Sodnac and
Morcellement Saint Jean on the other side. In addition, the number of access points to the
railway station is limited and favours only one side of the road. This limits the land value
capture of the area since one region may develop around public transportation as mobility
services while the other requires the usage of car to be accessible.

Figure 26: Metro Express Line along the Motorway M1 (Open Street Map 2021)
 40

The city of Copenhagen offers an example where the rail line and the highway target two
distinct types of land use features (Figure 27). Highways promote mobility and limit the number
of access points in order to allow a high vehicular speed. Rail networks on the other hand
necessitates accessibility points at and around its transit stations in order to be effective. In
addition, the network need to also operate in dense areas in order to be closer to passengers.
Highways, on the other hand, tend to promote segregation of adjacent regions and prevent
development densification. As such, both need to be developed far from each other in order to
allow development densification, mitigate adjacent land segregation, and prevent train users
from having access to highways and use private transportation at the expense of trains.

Figure 27: Rail (Red) and Highway (Blue) in Copenhagen (Source: European Rail Guide 2021)
 41

NMT Lane Conversion to Rail Line

The rail line on Vandermeersch Street was constructed from the walkway that used to exist on
the road section (Figure 28). This transport strategy is bad to implement since a rail network
and a pedestrian footpath need each other to function well. The former allows region-to-region
mobility and the latter is crucial for localised accessibility. In addition, this decreases the safety
usage of bicycles since cyclists need to use the motorised road for mobility. Since the road
section now has a rail line in addition to its motorised vehicle part, the ease to walk across it
becomes more difficult because of barrier effect brought in. This, in turn, decreases the
walkability of the region situated on the east part of the road, which becomes more segregated
due to the border imposed by the river and forest situated on its eastern front. (Figure 29).

Figure 28: Vandermeersch Boulevard Before Being Converted into an LRT Line (Reuben 2017)

Figure 29: Vandermeersh Line (Open Street Map)

 42

Mixed Land Use Development

A mixed land use development strategy is important for designing a node into a transit village.
This creates an environment where office, commercial and residential facilities are all located
in one region and consequently transforms the nodal place into a region which is a point of both
origin and destination. Unfortunately, mixed-land use development strategy is not promoted
along the metro line in Mauritius: the residential land use mostly targets single-housing unit,
and the commercial and office areas are not integrated with the residential quarters. Most lands
around the metro line are not greenfield and already have a land use history which predates the
construction of the network. This makes physical alteration costly and politically difficult. In
addition, new projects do not bring forth TOD strategy which could alter the land use structure
along the metro line. An example is the Victoria Urban Terminal, situated in Port Louis, which
has been designed as a place of destination through the facilities offered (Figure 30). The
absence of a block of residential units on its upper level prevents it from being a place of origin
for commuters and thus do not give it mixed land-use characteristics.

Figure 30: Conceptual Design of Victoria Urban Terminal (Source: Le Mauricien)

Mixed land use development is heavily promoted in Hong Kong and the station offers a certain
type of architectural framework whereby there are high rise towers built on top of the station
(Figure 31). This type of architecture has been used in Hong Kong since the 1980s with the
construction of the Admiralty Office Tower. The high-rise towers are either used for office,
hotels or residential purposes. On the ground floor level, either the station or other facilities
which offer leisure activities are present. The ground floor space may also be entirely used for
retail activities and the station is pushed into the basement section, as seen with the case of
Kowloon International Commercial Centre. The Hong Kong case study shows that there is a
need for vertical construction in order to promote TOD, and the retail and transit activities need
to take place close to each other in order to maximise the influx of people towards them. While
TOD in Hong Kong have occurred owing to capital-intensive projects, similar results can be
obtained in other regions at a cheaper price and on a smaller scale as long as vertical
development is promoted in accordance to such an architecture and land function (Figure 32).
 43

Figure 31: Timeline of Hong Kong Mixed Land Use Development Around Stations (Suzuki et al.
2015)

Residential, Hotel or
Tower Level Office Area

Ground Floor Level Open Space or Retail or Office Area

1st Basement Level Station or Retail or Office Area

2nd Basement Level Station Area

Figure 32: Components of Mixed Land Development Around Stations in Vertical Development
 44

Transport Policy Implication

While transport planning and land use change are necessary to design a functional TOD
settlement, there is a need for the right transport policy since the latter’s mobility and socio-
economic characteristics occur and evolve over a period of time. In each of the global cities
where public transit services are used as a developmental tool, there is a type of guideline which
aims at restricting car use, minimising natural and agricultural land use change and maintaining
adequate revenue to counteract the operating cost of public transport. Portland offers a great
example where land which was meant for the development of freeways was instead used for
the construction of the light rail system. The expressways were torn down and were either sold
to private developers for residential and commercial development or revitalised into parks. The
city also promoted a restriction in the number of parking spots the closer one’s office is to a
transit station (Arrington 1996). In addition to inputting transportation interventions, land use
reforms were implanted through the Urban Growth Boundary which brings up a strict law
clearly demarcating the boundaries between the urban and rural regions. Enforced on the state
level by the State of Oregon, this prevents the sprawling of metropolises into farm regions and
forests and constrains city policy makers to sustain land development and population growth
within restricted spaces. Hong Kong also has a land policy which directly impacts the land use
development of the region. According to the Basic Law 1990, the Republic of China is the
owner of the land and acts as a major influencer in the land use policy of the island. Suzuki et
al. (2015) claim that the authority leases land for 50 years at a premium and claims a rent of 3
percent of the value. This is invested into the transport system and other public infrastructure
of the region. The lease system works in a public – private partnership whereby the private
developers contest against one another in a bidding system to win development rights based on
their acceptance of the conditions set by the Hong Kong Land Department.

In Copenhagen, there has been a general transport policy which aims at reducing car usage
since the 1970s. The city follows the 1947 Finger Plan for its urban development which aims
at creating finger-like development patterns with green areas in between them. Between 1950s
and 1970s the city followed the same trend as other global cities and looked at a car-oriented
city development trend in order to benefit from the economic boom that other cities got by using
such design approach. This led the city to expand out of its conventional boundary into single-
housing suburbia. Halpern and Orlandi (2018) note that the core of Copenhagen suffered from
a socio-economic decline in the 1970s and 1980s due to the migration of high-income earners
into the suburbia. Andersen and Jorgensen (1995) comments that these periods saw the highest
rate of unemployment in central Copenhagen and the opposite occurred in the suburbia. This
did not deter policy makers to continue road and suburb projects while the city was starting to
make it a habit to ask for financial support from the central government. This however changed
when the 1970s Oil Crisis exposed the fragility of such policies and the latter’s over-reliance
on private motorisation for mobility. For the locals, the cheaper alternative to private motorised
transport was the bicycle and policy makers at the state and city level started to regroup around
the notion of incorporating cycling as mobility choice into the urban design. Upon the
incorporation of Sweden into the 1995 EU enlargement, the city of Copenhagen had to undergo
reforms to develop the region of Ørestadt in order to connect it to the city of Malmö and make
it a hub in Northern Europe. This compacted the regional development into the Copenhagen
urban boundaries. The state and the city worked together to create public corporations which
had the task to maximise the land value capture of public land and use the revenue to finance
the new metro system connecting Copenhagen and Malmö. Principles of urban design was
heavily used to develop the transit nodes in order to cater for sustainable living. Coupled with
 45

these engineering changes, a tax system was implemented on car use and ownership to promote
green mobility. Copenhagen’s city structure is organised around the 1947 Finger Plan and its
subsequent revisions. In addition, traffic mitigation policies are coupled with an urban design
vision and incorporate the metro and bus services in the strategy.

In Tunis, the regulator and operator of the public transportation services, including train, bus
and ferry travels, is Transtu which is a municipal – level body of government under the authority
of the national ministry of transport. This gives it sole authority in the decision – making process
of transportation services in the city and consequently, facilitates inter-modal travels. In
addition, Transtu also has the responsibility to manage traffic and parking within the city. The
urban planning body which looks after the development of the city is also set at the municipal
level. This makes it easy for both transportation and land use bodies to coordinate. Mutlu (2022)
adds up that the number of cars imported in the country is limited by a quota system applied by
the government. According to Kahloun (2010), the administrative system in Tunisia is strongly
centralised around Tunis and the authority has absolute power in the urban development of the
city. It is important to note that the Tunis rail network primarily services upper-class
neighbourhoods close to the city centre, and few lower-income regions lying on the periphery
of the city have access to it (Mutlu, 2022). This connotates to a form of transport injustice even
though empirical analysis of the rail system reveals a high efficiency of its operation. This lies
in similitude with the report of Kwasi et al. (2020) where it is stated that strong macroeconomic
indicators, revealed by studies from the African Development Bank (ADB) and the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), overshadows the deep socio-economic tension and lack of
opportunity present in the country (ADB, 2011; IMF, 2007). Addis Ababa suffers some of the
problems which are recurrent in many of the Global South cities: those being uncontrolled
migration, urban sprawl, slums, inadequate public transportation services, road congestion
etc… (SSATP, 2018). There is also a disconnection between land use strategy and transport
planning in addition to an inadequacy in the number of non-motorised transportation
infrastructure in the city. The Addis Ababa Road and Transport Bureau (AARTB) is the main
transportation stakeholder in the city and is divided into four different branches that respectively
target, road maintenance, public transport services, congestion and driving vehicles registration.
There is however a separate governmental and municipal body which looks at the land use
planning of the region. In addition, the light rail in the city is operated and managed by the ERC
(Ethiopian Railway Corporation) which is a state-owned company. This creates a rift in the
level of coordination between the federal government and the AARTB since the ERC promotes,
operates, plans and maintains the railway services, but the latter’s infrastructure is located
within Addis Ababa and is within the jurisdiction of the municipality.

Mauritius has a transport policy which is influenced by different governmental agencies. Enoch
(2003) mentions that the Department of Land Transport, Shipping and Port Development is
generally in charge of managing government transportation policy. Following the instalment of
Metro Express, the department has been divided into the Ministry of Land Transport and Light
Rail and the Mauritius Port Authority. The planning, investment, administration, design,
construction, regulation and enforcement tasks are operated by other parastatal organisations,
including the National Transport Authority, the Traffic Management Unit, the Police Traffic
Branch, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the technical division of the Ministry of
Works. Additionally, nine district councils are responsible for making development decisions
and maintaining, at local level, the smaller roads. These myriad of organisations and agencies
make planning and the carry forward of travel demand interventions becomes slow and
inefficient.
 46

Conclusion
While the Metro Express follows some of the principles which promotes non-motorised
transportation and universal accessibility, not all its features follow transit-oriented
development design. For instance, the conversion of the Vandermeersh Boulevard in Beau
Bassin – Rose Hill into the rail track while keeping the motorised road contributes a decrease
in walkability and cycling mobility in the region while promoting competition between private
and rail transportation. In addition, a planning structure favouring the placement of rail line
adjacent to a highway has the risk of creating a double barrier which prevent the movement of
non-motorised transportation in a perpendicular direction. This creates land segregation on each
side of the barrier and can result in a decrease in land value on the side which is more difficult
to access. Moreover, there is a need to input a land value capture strategy so that the transit
service is able to obtain financial benefit from inducing land development around its stations.

From the results obtained upon studying catchment radii of stations, it is possible to develop
parameters which help understand the distance boundary conditions for the development of
transit-oriented agglomeration. For instance, the minimum walking distance of 500 m signifies
the lower limit at which transit stations need to be from one another. Population density and
geography however may impact scenarios where stations or stops are placed closer than 500 m
since such regions produces a high travel demand and it becomes necessary to supply the
adequate transport infrastructure. In other cases however, it may signify an inappropriate
placement of stations since a passenger would be able to walk a far greater distance. In both
cases howver, an extensive non-motorised transportation networks should be emphasised to
accommodate for local accessibility and mobility. The second boundary condition relates to the
relationship between the catchment radius and the station-to-station distance: the latter needs to
be larger than the former in order to promote densification of population around the transit
station and thus helps create transit villages that are compact. The third boundary condition
relates to the maximum walking distance: the higher the latter is designed, the smaller becomes
the population density of transit villages and the more spread out and homogenous becomes the
residential land use. In addition to decreasing the population density of transit villages,
designing TOD settlements with walking distance close to the upper limit has the potential of
inducing a high use of private motorised transportation which may compete with public
transport trips.

In regards to the trasnport policy, there is a need to find ways to align the various public and
private stakeholders towards a strategy targetting an integratiom between land use and public
transport. Upon studying the transport policies of Hong Kong, Copenhagen and Portland, there
seems to be a common set of guidelines which limit urban expansion, restrict car ownership,
minimise change in rural land use and promote NMT connectivity.
 47

Recommendation
The Metro Leger Express line needs to embrace a TOD strategy with regards to the
densification of residential floor space around its stations. This is important to decrease walking
distance and induce people to use the light rail service. Densification of residential floor space
can be achieved through the construction of multi-housing apartment blocks around the stations
and close to the commercial and office centres. By selling housing units at a premium to
interested parties, developers are able to finance to the construction of the rail network and its
built components that are necessary to achieve TOD standards. Care should however be taken
to not just build expensive houses only, since this will target buyers who are either high-income
citizens or foreigners. As such, social housing units need to be accommodated into the building
strategy to cater for lower-income people. After all, transit-oriented development is a strategy
that aims at promoting gentrification in addition to lowering the transport cost of higher income
groups. In addition to effective land value capture methods, the transport planning operation
needs to be done in a way that the light rail network is used able to attract as many travellers as
possible. For instance, the system needs to operate in regions with a high density. As such,
building it next to a highway is not recommended since the latter promotes land segregation
and prevents densification. Moreover, pedestrian pathways help in giving accessibility to
walking distance trips and this is crucial in the first and last mile section of a trip involving
transit service. Furthermore, a rail network should not be built on agriculture lands since this
decreases the amount of land available for farming and does not target any travellers due to the
absence of settlements.

On the policy level, there is a need to bring together the different administrative bodies which
have an impact on the transport and urban planning of the different regions through which the
metro passes through. This necessitates a high political drive since it targets the state
government, the municipalities, private transport operators and any other stakeholders who
impact urban development. In addition, the Mauritian light rail project requires a human
resource which is qualitatively adept at administration, management, urban design and transport
planning. This is important since the light rail construction has brought forward a financial debt
to the state’s treasury and any non – constructive way of dealing with it is an obstacle towards
aligning all stakeholders on the same page and further improving the project.

The Metro Leger Express project is still in its initial phase and can be further extended in the
north from Port Louis to Grand Baie and in the south – west direction from Curepipe to the
airport (Figure 33). This extension is costly, and it is important to find a sustainable financing
method in order to continue the project and prevent the accumulation of debt. Land value
capture methods targeting residential densification around stations is important to provide
finance to the extension project of the metro.
 48

Figure 33: Metro Express Extension Plan (Open Street Map)

 49

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