Georgetown Students Develop Transit System for City in Mali

Four Georgetown University students traveled to Mali over spring break to perform a feasibility study and meet with government officials about implementing a new public transportation system in the capital city of Bamoko.

The project grew out of a fall semester policy seminar called “Science and Society: Global Challenges,” part of Georgetown’s Science in the Public Interest (SPI) program. Throughout the semester, student groups in the seminar picked a global challenge, conducted research and proposed entrepreneurial options to fund their goal.

Michael Barclay, Anthony Conyers, Joseph Luk and Sean Quigley focused on meeting growing global energy demand, chose public transportation as their subject and identified Bamoko as a city that would benefit greatly from a public transportation system.

The students say their proposed system, called Bus Rapid Transit, is cheap, easy to maintain and would lower energy usage and traffic fatalities.

The four students proposed their idea to several foundations and received a grant from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation.

The students conducted their own research in Bamoko by studying the city’s existing private bus transportation system, talking to residents and examining traffic patterns in the city. They now plan to compile the information they gathered during their trip and submit a report to the Lounsbery Foundation.  [Georgetown University]