Empowering marginalised groups through co-operative inquiry: Illustrated by a practical example.

Background: Cooperative inquiry gives a voice to marginalised groups and breaks down power imbalances which makes it suitable for researching practical issues at community level. Objectives: The objective of this article is to illustrate how cooperative inquiry can be utilised to empower members of marginalised communities in facilitating social change. Method: The study setting is in Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa. A cooperative inquiry methodology was used. The inquiry group consisted of wheelchair users (9), their care givers (8), taxi drivers (7) and stakeholders (4). Data collection comprised 16 sessions, alternating between action and reflection. Inductive thematic analysis of data of all the phases was done to ensure that cooperative inquiry gives voice to marginalised communities. Results: The four themes that is, practical arrangements, understanding process, purpose, bonding and a cohesive group were identified. The themes showed progress from logistics, through individual understanding, to the group becoming one, and working together. Each of these phases is important in the development of a cooperative inquiry. Conclusion: Cooperative inquiry methodology can bring people together in a positive way to facilitate social change, and developing practical solutions to challenges. Contribution: Making use of a cooperative inquiry methodology to bring social change, minibus taxi services can be made accessible for wheelchair users. Concepts of social justice and decolonisation were imbued in the methodology.

Survey data on the socio-economic characteristics and electric vehicle perceptions of paratransit owners and drivers in and around the Cape Town Metropole of South Africa.

The survey data contain information on the socio-economic characteristics and intention of electric vehicle (EV) adoption amongst paratransit owners and drivers, to address knowledge gaps and inform policy-making in paratransit electrification. The data were collected by distributing a Microsoft Forms survey questionnaire among paratransit owners and drivers in and around Cape Town, South Africa. The questions in the survey were designed to gain information, and to provide information on the latent constructs of the behavioural framework constructed in "Electric vehicle adoption intention among paratransit owners and drivers in South Africa". The data were used in the aforementioned paper to shed light on the attitudes, barriers, and enablers to EV adoption in the paratransit sector, providing insights for targeted interventions and promoting sustainable mobility. The data can be re-used for more in-depth studies of, as well as comparative studies assessing the socio-economic profiles and EV perceptions of paratransit owners and drivers in vs. other regions, and longitudinal studies benchmarking changes in EV perceptions in these demographics over time. Comparative studies could identify regional variations, cultural influences, and policy implications for promoting EV adoption in different contexts, and longitudinal studies can assess the effectiveness of interventions, policy changes, or technological advancements on EV adoption in the paratransit sector over time.

High-fidelity tracking data gathered on minibus taxis in Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Minibus taxis, a form of informal shared mobility that carries up to 16 passengers, is the main mode of public transport in sub-Saharan Africa, and given global trends, a large-scale shift to electric paratransit is imminent in the coming decades. Modeling the energy consumption (kWh/km) of electric vehicle (EV) fleets is a pre-requisite for planning for fleet deployment, especially in energy-constrained contexts. Given the paucity of EVs in sub-Saharan Africa, ground-truth data on the energy consumption of electric paratransit does not exist for many developing contexts. Consequently, GPS tracking data on internal combustion engine (ICE) versions of these vehicles is often used to estimate the energy consumption of an electric equivalent. To date, only per-minute GPS tracking data has been captured on these vehicles and used for energy consumption estimates. But this sampling frequency is insufficient for accurate energy consumption estimates, especially given the unique micro-mobility patterns of minibus taxis that are characterized by many rapid acceleration/deceleration events in quick succession. Although simulators can be used to interpolate between the dataset, they have been shown to be inaccurate in the regional context. This article presents a dataset of high-fidelity micromobility data captured on minibus taxis in transit on four typical route types: inter-city, intra-city, uphill, and downhill. The main objective was to estimate energy requirements for the eventual electrification of these vehicles, the data was thus processed according to an electro-kinetic model. This high-fidelity mobility data was captured by "standardised passengers" with bespoke GPS-location logging devices sampling at 1 Hz. Trips on the four route types were recorded and saved in six folders - three routes, each in two directions, with one route being uphill in one direction and downhill in another. Each of the six folders have subfolders for time of day - morning, afternoon, and evening. In total 62 trips were recorded with varying durations, depending on the traffic and route length.

A qualitative exploration of community mobility experiences of wheelchair users.

Background: Freedom of movement, which is dependent on community mobility, is a key contributor to good quality of life and important in the establishment of a person's community identity. Objective: To describe the community mobility experiences of wheelchair users who lived in a socio-economically challenged setting. Method: The study setting was Paarl, a peri-urban area of the Western Cape province of South Africa. This article reports findings from phase 1 (a reflection on past community mobility and minibus taxi use experiences) of cycle 1 of a co-operative inquiry. Nine adult wheelchair users, eight caregivers, six minibus taxi drivers, and four community stakeholders participated. Data were collected during a focus group discussion and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Results: Four themes, 'Knowledge, attitudes, and actions', 'Natural, manmade and mechanical environmental barriers', 'Health and safety concerns' and 'Poor community participation and quality of life' were identified. The themes showed how difficult an everyday activity like moving around in the community were for wheelchair users, and how that limited their community involvement. Conclusions: Wheelchair users living in a low-income peri-urban area struggled to participate in community activities meaningful to them because various barriers hampered community wheelchair mobility and minibus taxi use. Contribution: The findings regarding community mobility struggles and specifically minibus taxi access guided specific recommendations and the further phases and cycles of the co-operative inquiry. The purpose of the co-operative inquiry was to allow co-researchers to find their voice and develop solutions to minibus taxi access for wheelchair users.