Casablanca: The inequality of transport supply is growing in the peripheries

The economic capital contains 40% of the Kingdom’s mobility. Thus, accessibility to the public transport network is a key factor for the development of the city, which requires maintaining, over time, a minimum quality of transport services as a critical priority.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted in September 2015, place a major emphasis on urban transport accessibility, including Goal 11 focused on sustainable cities and communities, aiming to ensure that cities and human settlements are inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

In this study, the two researchers from the Ecole Hassania des Travaux Publics (EHTP) estimated the value of this indicator for downtown Casablanca and the surrounding urban communities of Mohammadia, Mediouna and Nouaceur. The study thus contributes to efforts to implement the objectives of the 2030 Agenda in Morocco, particularly with regard to urban transport. It also aims to compare the results for the different modes of public transport available in the city, namely streetcar and bus.

To achieve these objectives, the two researchers first proposed an adapted methodology based on the metadata of indicator (SDG) 11.2.1. To do this, they created a Geographic Information System (GIS) database containing the necessary data such as administrative districts, urban roads, bus network lines, streetcar lines and population statistics.

As a result, the researchers found that 74.38% of the population in the entire study area has access to the bus network while 95.51% of the population in the center has access to the bus and streetcar networks. The detailed
results by sector highlight the imbalance in access to transportation between the downtown and surrounding areas.

Although the bulk of the population is located in the various neighborhoods of the central city (Casablanca), the outlying communities of Mohammadia, Mediouna, and Nouaceur, on the other hand, are experiencing strong urban sprawl and increasing urban populations. According to the study, this leads to an inequality that can cause an imbalance in terms of activities and access to opportunities between all populations in the Casablanca region.