sustainability Article A Sustainable Approach to Innovation Adoption in Light-Rail Transport Taslim Alade * , Jurian Edelenbos and Alberto Gianoli Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), Erasmus University Rotterdam, 3062 PA Rotterdam, The Netherlands; [email protected] (J.E.); [email protected] (A.G.) * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +31-659100950 Received: 19 December 2019; Accepted: 6 February 2020; Published: 10 February 2020 Abstract: This article primarily aims to understand how the Light-Rail Transport (LRT) pricing and infrastructural innovations from a Chinese context have been adopted to the Addis-Ababa city context. Secondly, it wishes to show what were the economic, social, and environmental effects of these adapted innovations on passenger service delivery and Multi-National Corporations (MNCs), and what effects the resident’s proximity had on commercial activities along the LRT route. Thirdly, it identified re-adaptations to a more sustainable LRT with respect to the passengers, MNCs, and residents. This study has revealed economic, social, and environmental effects that may influence innovation adoption, such as the following: reduction in carbon emissions; fare evasion; inconvenience; affordability; less revenue; less proximity to commercial activities; and an increase in travel distances for pedestrians. A mixed method for a single case study was used, including semi-structured interviews with light-rail experts and a passenger survey. The results show that economic sustainability factors account for 12 out of 14 sustainability factors and 2 out of 14 social and environmental sustainability factors. The results are intended to be used as a decision support system for innovation adoption in other cities with similar context, in order to develop a sustainable approach to LRT planning. Keywords: sustainable transport; sustainability factors; pricing-innovation; infrastructural- innovation; innovation-adoption; contextualization; light-rail 1. Introduction The provision of large-scale Light-Rail Transport (LRT) infrastructure that has been deprived of an adequate sustainability assessment may result in challenges that lead to high costs and undesirable socio-economic and environmental effects for the light-rail provider and users, especially for cities transitioning to LRT. Integration of sustainable development into local, state, and national development plans is very important and should be taken seriously when making the plans. In the past twenty years, there have been substantial changes in the provision of infrastructure facilities globally. The World Bank, governments of developing countries, and various donor agencies have been dissatisfied with the sustainability of their investments in public-sector infrastructure, especially during the 1980s and 1990s. These actors were all concerned that their investments were not having a lasting effect of the transport services, quality, and degree of usefulness that was initially anticipated, and they were also not in accordance with standards [1]. The LRT system usually functions in urban surroundings and uses a rail-based technology to provide public transport. Vehicles are typically lightweight, move on steel rails, and are either driven by electricity [2] or use diesel as fuel. Addis-Ababa Light-Rail Transport is a sort of modern day tram that has a reserved or segregated right of way on street segments and traffic lights [3]. In the Addis-Ababa LRT case study that was carried out it was assumed that China replicated some of their Sustainability 2020, 12, 1262; doi:10.3390/su12031262 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Sustainability 2020, 12, 1262 2 of 22 innovations from the LRT in China to Addis Ababa since they are the custodians of the implementation and a major financier of the light rail system in Addis-Ababa [4]. The following points can be made about the Addis Ababa LRT: Is an electrified light rail transit • There are currently 41 stations • There is a double track for the whole route which has a standard gauge of 1.435 m • It is sub divided into two lines, namely North-South line—16.9 km and the East-West line—17.35 km • It has a total length of 34.25 km • The two lines share a 2.7 km section of the track in the city centre • It operates between 16–18 h per day [5] • It has a targeted headway time of 6 min, but is currently only able to deliver 10 min due to the • limited amount of LRT vehicles Every LRT has a maximum service speed of 80 km/h and an average operational speed of 65 km/h • The network is designed to carry 15,000 passengers per hour per direction (PPHPD) [5] • It has a 286 passenger carrying capacity • It has a capacity of 80,000 passengers/h (PPH) • The network is designed to carry a maximum of 115,000–120,000 people per day (PP/PD) • Sustainable development as explained in the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, acknowledged the Brundtland Commission (1987): “is the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [6]. The main aim of sustainable transport is to move goods and people, while at the same time contributing to realizing economic, social, and environmental sustainability [7]. Sustainable transportation goals include the delivery of efficient, effective, and safe access to transportation in the future while also taking into consideration social, environmental, and economic aspects [8]. The European Union’s strategy for sustainable development defines sustainability with respect to transport as: “The ability to meet the needs of society to move freely, gain access, trade, establish relationships, and communicate without sacrificing other essential human or ecological values today or in the future” [9]. Transportation system sustainability can also be defined as the results of the effects of the system on the social well-being, environment, and economy, which is measured by a system’s efficiency and effectiveness [6]. The French Internal Transport Law (LOTI) necessitates that when cities are involved in major urban transport infrastructure systems which have used public funds, they assess the plans using criteria that confirm the socio-economic proficiency of the infrastructural assets. These assessments are implemented before and after the developments from a socio-economic perspective [10]. Evaluations therefore need to be provided in a structure that guides policymakers to pinpoint the main reasons that are used to assess their decisions. These factors highlight risks, uncertainties, and trade-offs in particular [11]. The European Union (EU) urban transport has revealed that 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions, 80% of congestion costs, 20,000 road fatalities per annum, and upwards of 100,000 untimely deaths are caused yearly from air pollution [12]. There is sufficient evidence that European urban transport strategies are presently not close to being sustainable, but there are laudable projects, such as bike and car sharing, and provision of more public transport using renewable energy, which will gradually close these sustainability gaps [13]. In several cities, urban rail transportation developments such as the metro, tram, and light rail systems have over the decades shown that they are the ideal key in providing sustainable mobility for the growing urban inhabitants. These forms of transport also provide additional advantages such as: high carrying capacities, shortened travel time, comfort, and more safety and reliability compared to other forms of transport. Rail systems are known to be very large projects that require high capital investments, particularly in the building of infrastructure and maintenance expenses. Excluding the economic profits, the environmental and social development benefits are also derived from rail Sustainability 2020, 12, 1262 3 of 22 system ventures [14]. Therefore, the primary aim of this research was to identify how pricing and infrastructural innovations of a Light-Rail Transport (LRT) from a Chinese context was able to be successfully transferred to the Addis-Ababa city context. Secondly, the research aimed to reveal the economic, social, and environmental effects of these adapted innovations on passenger service delivery, what the Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) expected outcomes were, and what effect the resident proximity had while living and doing business along the LRT routes? Thirdly, it investigated what the identified re-adaptations to a more sustainable LRT might be with respect to passengers, MNCs, and residents. This paper has been divided into the following sections; Section1 is the introduction, Section2 explains the theoretical framework, Section3 is the methodology, Section4 provides the empirical results and discussions, and Section5 presents a conclusion. 2. Theoretical Framework In this section, as shown in Figure1, the conceptual model describes the pricing and infrastructural innovation, and how they are both contextualized. In addition, the effects of economic, social, and environmental factors from the contextualized pricing and infrastructural innovations have been described. These effects are concerned with the passenger service delivery, Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) expected outcomes from the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), Shenzhen Metro Group (SMG), Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC), and what effect the resident’s proximity had while living and doing business along the LRT route. Furthermore, re-adaptations have been proposed,