Cheap Asian motorcycles are transforming African cities
okada, and boda boda. They are transforming mobility in Africa. Behind the rise is a story of supply and demand.
Brands from China (such as Haojue) and India (such as Bajaj) are cheap enough for the average African rider. Some have set up assembly plants in countries such as Togo and Angola. Many have done deals with financial firms that offer loans to pay for the wheels.
Some are now also selling electric motorcycles. Africa’s urban population will almost double from 491m in 2015 to 966m in 2035, reckons the UN. Walking across sprawling cities takes ages and, in the absence of pavements, can be dangerous.
Motorcycles are cheaper than car taxis (roughly half the price for a trip of the same distance) and often faster. The average car commuter in Lagos spends 30 hours a week in traffic, according to one survey. Around a third of taxis carry cargo and connect small towns to each other and to rural villages.
In 2020 there were 8,784 African agglomerations with at least 10,000 people, up from 2,360 in 1980, according to Africapolis, a research project of the OECD, a group of mainly rich countries. Motorbikes make it easier to get from one to another—the average distance between two agglomerations is 20km, down from 35km four decades ago—including connections with other forms of transport. The two-wheelers are vital for the informal economy that makes up 86% of employment in Africa.
“If you were to take them away, the economies of most sub-Saharan African cities would collapse," argues Roger Behrens of the University of Cape Town. They are a major source of jobs for young men (just 1% of drivers are female) at a time when African working-age populations are expanding faster than formal jobs. There are at least 1.5m riders in
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