*5.3. Social Sustainability*

The assessment of transportation social sustainability was composed of five variables, namely: AA-LRT, which is a safe and health-wise mode of transport compared to other transport modes in Addis Ababa; AA-LRT, which offers assistance to passengers with particular mobility needs such as the disabled to use the train; AA-LRT which offers equal opportunities and diversity to all residents of Addis Ababa; AA-LRT, which offers a reliable and convenient transport mode for business activities in the city; and AA-LRT, which offers decent work and labor practices for the whole population.

Considering the attained feedback from the survey questionnaire put across to respondents about the perceived importance of the social sustainability dimension aspects, as shown in Figure 8 below, the first level of strongly agree (level 1), with a percentage weighted average of 37.34%. This was then followed by agree (level 2) with a percentage average of 29.26%. The neutral level (level 3) had an average percentage of 21.6%. Disagree (level 4) achieved a percentage average of 7.16% with the strongly disagree (level 5) category in the last position with an average percentage of 4.52%. The averages of the percentages for each level indicate that many respondents who participated in this study believe that AA-LRT improves the social status of the city dwellers.

**Figure 8.** Category of perceived importance of social sustainability aspects.

On the performance of individual aspects, as can be seen in Figure 8 above, the aspect of AA-LRT is a safe and health-wise mode of transport compared to other transport modes in Addis Ababa, achieving the highest percentage (52.42%) across the survey responses in the social sustainability dimension for level 1. Even though passengers flood the trains to the extent that others move while standing, respondents have an admirable sense of safety when they use the train. This can be attributed to the fact that fewer accidents have occurred during the operational period of the train since its introduction compared to motor vehicles. The aspect of AA-LRT offers a reliable and convenient transport mode for business activities in the city achieved the highest percentage (36.4%) for level 2. It is well known that the movements of the train are on a timetable with its dedicated route that offers minimal interruption in train movement. This means that business movements can be scheduled well and on time, thus leading to many respondents agreeing that business activities, especially movements, are well supported by the train. The aspect of AA-LRT that offers decent work and labor practices for the whole population has the highest percentage (34.45%) amongst level 3 items. Many respondents came through with a neutrality stand on this category, most likely due to the fact that many are not employed by the rail company, so it is hard for them to analyze this properly. Considering level 4 items, a great percentage (10.7%) responded to the aspect of AA-LRT offering equal opportunities and diversity to all residents of Addis Ababa. This level of disagreement is surprising and may be based on how easy one can get employed with the LRT operations organization. The highest percentage (7.6%) was dedicated to the aspect of AA-LRT offering a reliable and convenient transport mode for business activities in the city. While the same aspect scored high in level 2, it coincidently scores high again in level 5. Some of those who conduct business want to catch the available means of transport instantly and the fact that the train may not be available all the time may hinder their business dealings. The results of the analysis point to a more holistic, integrated, and strategic approach towards social sustainability [48], performance, and a requirement to improve social variables, which are known to be weak in many sustainability studies.

Pearson's correlation was conducted between the aspects of social sustainability dimension as well, as presented in Table 7 below. The results show that there exists a strong positive significant relationship, r (391) = 0.423, (*p* < 0.001) of AA-LRT is a safe and health-wise mode of transport compared to other transport modes in Addis Ababa in relation to AA-LRT, which offers assistance to passengers with particular mobility need such as the disabled to use the train. As one of the aspects is better addressed, so is the other aspect addressed as well.



Note. \*\* Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level, Sig. (2-tailed).

#### *5.4. Sustainability Definition and Dimensions*

The widely considered definition of sustainability, as coined by the Brundtland report, was related to the operations of AA-LRT and aspects developed from the definition, as seen in Figure 9 below. The sustainability definition comprises of two major development components: 1. meeting the needs of the present and; 2. prospects within an ability of future generations to meet their own needs [8,21–23,49–54]. In addition to that, an independent framing was done to seek to know how the respondents perceived the contributions of the AA-LRT on each of the individual dimensions that majorly constitute sustainability without breaking these dimensions into aspects as before. The service level results from the respondents are illustrated in Figure 9 below.

From the sustainability definition, respondents were asked about their views regarding levels on whether AA-LRT meets the current transport needs of Addis Ababa city and the second aspect was if AA-LRT will allow the future to meet their needs. The other three items are contributions of the light rail to the individual sustainability dimensions framed as below. AA-LRT contributes more to the economic development of Addis Ababa city, AA-LRT contributes more to the environmental development of Addis Ababa city and, AA-LRT contributes more to the social development of Addis Ababa city.

**Figure 9.** Breakdown on sustainability definition and individual dimensions.

On the first two aspects that are framed from the sustainability definition, level 2 got the highest average percentage (36.65%). Level 1 becomes second on average percentage (28.8%), level 3 average percentage (17.95) became third with the level 4 average percentage (13.45%), and level 5 average percentage (3.2%) in the fourth and fifth position, respectively.

From the affirmation of respondents in the breakdown below, 23.2% strongly agree (level 1) that AA-LRT meets the current transport needs of Addis Ababa city while allowing future generations to meet their transport needs is at 34.4%. The difference in perceived affirmation can be seen. This clearly shows the transport challenges in Addis Ababa city are enormous and difficulties are still existent, hence transport needs satisfaction is lower. However, all hope is not lost, as many people believe it will enable future generations to meet their needs.

Level 2 perceived importance records many respondents agreeing that AA-LRT meets the transport needs of Addis Ababa city at 37.9% while enabling future generations to meet their transport needs is at 35.4%. These two levels almost strike a balance in agreement. The combined agreement cohort at 61.1% for meeting current needs and 69.8% for meeting future needs show that there is an approach in balance towards fulfilling the components of the sustainability definition. The combined disagreement cohort is at 26.9% for disagree (level 4) and 6.4% (level 5) for strongly disagree. This clearly shows that respondents appreciate the contributions being made by AA-LRT in achieving transport sustainability of Addis Ababa.

On individual sustainability dimension aspects analysis, 43.3% perceive that AA-LRT contributes more to economic sustainability, 26.7% to environmental sustainability, and 30.6% to social sustainability, all of which follow under level 1. However, when levels 1 and 2 are combined, economic sustainability stands at 73.8%, environmental sustainability achieves 75.3%, and social sustainability at 69.4%. This is a manifestation that many respondents perceive that the economic dimension gets more while the social dimension is less valued. The results echo the literature finding of [40], which suggests that light

rail operations help in promoting the economic development of urban areas. Railways are widely known for their promotion of environmental cleanness by emitting less carbon gaseous products into the environment. It is no doubt that many respondents perceive the environmental dimension for performing well, although not much as the economic dimension. This coincides with the literature finding [28], which concludes that rails perform better environmentally compared to other transport means.

The social sustainability dimension as noted is the least considered dimension of sustainability and is perceived as less important [24,25,55], which corresponds to many prior sustainability studies.

A Pearson correlation conducted between the aspects of the sustainability definition show that there is exists a strong positive significant relationship, r (391) = 0.500, (*p* < 0.001) of AA-LRT meeting the current transport needs of Addis Ababa city in relation to AA-LRT, which will allow the future generations to meet their needs. The results indicate a pure split half balance in addressing these two components of the sustainability definition. Another correlation between the individual dimensions, economic, and environmental was also examined and the results showed a strong positive correlation, r (391) = 0.403, (*p* < 0.001) for environmental sustainability and, r (391) = 0.485, (*p* < 0.001) for social sustainability in relation to economic sustainability. These results also may suggest that environmental and social sustainability are perceived and addressed as almost the same.

### **6. Conclusions**

In this paper, we have explored the contributions to the sustainable development of Addis Ababa city brought by the implementation of AA-LRT, which is regarded as one of the avenues of a sustainable urban transport system. We have also examined the perceived importance of the widely accepted sustainability definition components and AA-LRT contribution to separate sustainability dimensions. Through this empirical study, it has been found that AA-LRT has significant direct contributions to the sustainable development of Addis Ababa. By formulating new variables within sustainable transportation and investigating sustainable development based on transport facility user perceptions, the results supplement the available body of knowledge. The findings reveal the perceptions of residents, the first of its kind under this arrangement in Addis Ababa, and can therefore be used as a basis for future planning and RLT developments.

Again, from the analysis of collected data, the findings of the study correlate with prior studies that discovered that economic sustainability is the most well-addressed sustainability dimension [26]. Again, economic sustainability is performing better than social and environmental sustainability dimensions. These last two are almost addressed in the same way.

While the economic sustainability dimension has been found to perform better, thereby positioning AA-LRT to contribute more towards the economic transport sustainability of Addis Ababa, it should not be forgotten that these are weighted perceptions of the respondents. The results of the study therefore do not represent an objective measure of AA-LRT's contributions to sustainable development of Addis Ababa. A logical follow up study is thus deemed necessary through future research to establish objective measures of the considered variables either dimension wise or individually. This will help quantity parameters such as the actual air pollution or noise and vibration reduction levels, the exact reduction in traffic congestion and delays. A further expert evaluation can be done to see how well such findings align with the perceptions. User perceptions are subject to change and this is inevitable due to continued development and population increase over time in such cities. It is therefore suggested that future researchers dive deeper and look into the longitudinal measurements of change in perceptions over time or evaluation of perceptions vs. actual change in relation to the subject matter. The outcomes of these studies will promote the attainment of transport sustainability together with sustainable development.

The findings of the research have numerous important implications to ERC and other urban light rail investment projects in developing cities.

First, they may guide in informing ERC where it should direct more efforts towards ensuring the sustainability of the AA-RLT in order to ensure a balanced action towards addressing all the three dimensions of sustainability. The study findings will provide additional knowledge to city administrators in developing policies, which can lead to transport sustainability. It may also serve as a reference for future academics, becoming pivotal in the field of sustainable development and RLT areas. These may pick on the study area and discover more research gaps. The findings of this study may also be useful to other developing cities across Africa and Asia that wish to invest in RLT. By looking at these perceptions and knowing how users interpret or assess the services in terms of contributing to sustainable development, they can form a basis to align their operations in a way that they can contribute more to sustainable development in their localities. If LRT projects are looking at improving their public image in regard to sustainability, then these user perceptions are an important starting point for such evaluations.

Due to the varying levels of development, user perception, and people behaviors, the study is generally limited to Ethiopia and Addis Ababa in particular. Among the drawbacks that limited this study was the outset of COVID-19, which cut short the survey time and the number of respondents. A total of 393 respondents were examined in this study, which may be acceptable for academic purposes. However, Addis Ababa city is big with a large population, and AA-LRT passes through different places. The number of respondents can be made larger to include more stakeholders such as city planners, political leaders, city administrators, sustainability development think tanks around the city and more government agencies to ascertain if their sentiments correlate with the findings. Additionally, using questionnaires in research may result into bias especially due to the way the questions are designed, and this can be helped by using a large sample. Another limitation of this research emanates from the study approach and the conceptualization of sustainability and sustainable development. A triple bottom line approach was considered and transport sustainability variables formulated based on the TBL. However, the assessment of sustainability is wide with a collection of many sustainability principles such as considerations by life-cycle orientations, increasing complexity, and long-term/short-term orientations

Light rail operations are relatively new in Africa, the initial capital investment is heavy in terms of financing organizations and governments as well. Such high capital projects need to be well studied to ascertain the sustainability of these establishments. The considered transport sustainability aspects in this study are not the only that can be formulated for study consideration in the sustainability arena.

The narrative that urban rail transportation is always sustainable should not easily be accepted without evidence from research findings. Since railway sustainability is a wide area and LRT is at its infant stage in Africa, prospects for future studies are enormous for example; more sustainability variables under each dimension can be formulated for future case studies basing on the framework of this research, for proposed or under construction LRT projects (see Table 1), how to ensure sustainability of the proposed projects such as the Greater Kampala Light Rail would be a virgin area for researchers in this area, a study on how to ensure sustainability within each project life cycle stage can be conducted, and case studies of project management and project sustainability of RLT in different locations will help in contributing to shrinking the knowledge gap on the two items. Such studies will only serve to buttress the study findings and generate more unknown information if carried out.

Conclusively, the introduction and operation of AA-LRT clearly supports the transport sustainability of Addis Ababa city. The AA-LRT project, being the first of its kind in Ethiopia, has greatly improved transport accessibility and has put Addis Ababa city at the forefront of transport sustainability amongst developing cities across sub-Saharan Africa. **Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.S. and M.L.M.; methodology, J.S. and M.L.M.; software, J.S.; formal analysis, J.S.; investigation, J.S.; writing—original draft preparation, J.S.; writing review and editing, J.S. and M.L.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** All data has been provided through references. Additional data in form of SPSS file can be provided upon request from the authors.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors sincere appreciation goes to the World Bank (WB) through the African Railway Center of Excellence at Addis Ababa Institute of Technology (AAiT) for the support provided that made this research work a successful one by means of a scholarship to the corresponding author. We also thank AALRT Staff and any other persons who participated in this study.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.
