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Message KHARTOUMAP INITIATIVE

AbstractSudan’s national capital area consists of the three major cities of Khartoum,Khartoum North (Bahri), and Omdurman. The Greater Khartoum region and its sevenlocalities are home to nearly 8 million people (2020 estimate), approximately a fifthof the country’s total population. Most of the country’s governance, public andacademic institutions, trade markets, and other services are based in this Tri-Cityarea. Sudan has one of the lowest car ownership rates in the world, standing at 2.7%.While this rate is higher in Khartoum, the vast majority of the population istransit-dependent.Despite the transit dependence of the population and the existence of over 300public transit routes connecting the different areas of the Greater Khartoum region,there is no official system or network map available to the public. Word-of-mouthremains the only way to get instructions to navigate Khartoum’s public transportnetwork. This situation results from years of unjust international sanctions thatseverely restricted access to even the most basic tools and technologies, includingmapping software (e.g., ArcGIS, Google Maps, etc.) coupled with bad governanceand a lack of investment in essential public services.The KhartouMap initiative worked to methodically resolve this issue by mapping theexisting system, generating GTFS-compliant data feeds that can be integrated withthe now-accessible mapping services, and conducting a large-scale householdmobility survey for the region. This report details the steps of work conducted by theKhartouMap team, the challenges encountered, and how we believe the datacollected through this work can be utilized to analyze the status quo of mobility inKhartoum and methodically develop innovative future mobility solutions.1 | Page

Table of ContentsIntroduction....................................................................................................................... 3Related Work.....................................................................................................................4Data Collection and Processing...............................................................................4Transit Routes Mapping..................................................................................................................................4Generating Khartoum Beta-GTFS...........................................................................................................7Mobility Survey Data Collection.............................................................................................................. 8Processing Survey Data................................................................................................................................. 9Analyzing Survey Results...........................................................................................................................10Accessibility Analysis.................................................................................................. 13Coverage of Transit System...................................................................................................................... 13Distance on Public Transit to Nearest Amenities......................................................................14Distance on Public Transit to Randomized Locations...........................................................15Key Takeaways....................................................................................................................................................17Limitations of Analysis.................................................................................................................................. 18Lessons Learned, Challenges, and Next Steps...............................................19Core Transit Operations............................................................................................................................... 19Public Engagement........................................................................................................................................ 19Partnerships and Working in Sudan...................................................................................................20Transit Sytem Map........................................................................................................232 | Page

IntroductionKhartouMap addresses the pressing public transit needs of one of Africa’s busiesturban capitals - Khartoum, Sudan. The transit system in Khartoum is composed ofan aging fleet of buses and vans that are privately operated. The lines runpredominantly on government-charted service routes in the tri-city capital. This iscollectively referred to as the ‘Muwasalat’ system. The main vehicles in the fleet areMitsubishi Rosa buses (capacity: 25), Toyota Hiace Vans (capacity: 12-14), and Amjadvans (capacity: 7-8). There are also a very limited number of government vehicles,colloquially named ‘bus al-wali’ (capacity: 45-50) which translates to ‘the governor’sbus’. The system is predominantly single-modal and reliant on these bus routes andtheir carrying capacity. According to previous reports, approximately 80% or more ofthe population uses public transport - the majority of whom rely on it exclusively.There is a commuter rail system functioning at an extremely limited capacity.Though tracks exist, they are poorly maintained and train maintenance using spareparts is an ongoing challenge.Extreme shortfalls in transit supply have crippled the capital in recent years. Coupledwith inflationary pressures, soaring gas prices, and a poorly maintained registrationsystem for bus capacity by route, there has been a chronic lack of public transitavailability. The prices of rides on the system have also ballooned exponentially. Thishas resulted in undue hardship for public transit riders. In addition, visibility into thesystem is particularly opaque. Transit riders are not able to see the full system orknow the fares of parallel routes, which creates a situation where imperfectinformation leads to a lot of inefficiency and unideal outcomes such as long queuesand price gouging. All those issues have been further exacerbated by the ongoingconflict in Sudan since April 15th, 2023.The first aim of our work at KhartouMap is to fully map the existing public transitsystem in Khartoum, Sudan, and create both physical and digital maps of bus routes.From these, General Transit Feed Specifications (GTFS) (i.e. digitally compliant transitfeeds) are created in order to integrate the bus system information into popularmapping applications such as Google Maps and Apple Maps. The project scope alsoincluded mapping transit accessibility with special attention to geographic region,socioeconomic class, gender, and trip purpose. This has been accomplished throughGIS analysis, as well as neighborhood-level mobility surveys which have beencollected both in-person and online. We see KhartouMaps’ mobility database as asubstantial increment to previously conducted work in the Khartoum Master Planfrom 2014.3 | Page

Related WorkMost countries in Africa including Sudan do not have GTFS and system maps thatare available to the public to use and obtain information about transit systems. At thetime of writing, only 16 African cities had a public GTFS. However, some recentinitiatives have started collecting data about the transit system and developing GTFSin different countries. One of the most relevant studies to this initiative is The DigitalMatatus project which was conducted in Nairobi, Kenya. A study by Williams et al.2015 discusses this prior project. The Digital Matatus project used the geo-locativecapabilities of mobile devices to map the semi-formal transit in Nairobi, Kenya. Thedata was collected using different smartphone applications such as MyTracks andTransitWand. The team documented some of the challenges they faced usingmobile devices which included limited battery life, the slow speeds of affordableAndroid phones, and small screen sizes for phones for data entry. Despite thesechallenges, the team found that collecting data using mobile devices was the mosteffective approach for their purpose. The team was able to use this data to developthe GTFS and to upload it to Google Maps for riders to benefit from (Williams et al.2015). Following the success of this project, other cities such as Accra, Addis Ababa,Cairo, Cape Town, Dhaka, Douala, Durban, Kampala, Lusaka, and Maputo to maptheir transit system (Klopp and Cavoli 2019, Zegras et al. 2014). These projects showthat using mobile devices to map semi-formal transit is a growing trend in the globalSouth, and they also inspired the KhartouMap project to map out and develop GTFSfor semi-formal transit in Khartoum.Data Collection and ProcessingData collection was the main phase of the project and it is divided into two parts.The first part was transit route mapping and the second was conducting acomprehensive mobility survey in Khartoum, Sudan.Transit Routes MappingThis part aims to collect route data to develop a map of all transit routes inKhartoum and then use them to develop Khartoum state GTFS. The first step in thispart was collecting existing data from the Ministry of Infrastructure andTransportation (MOIT) in Khartoum State. MOIT provided three datasets to the team.The first dataset was a Word document that has the names of all routes that wereactive within the past few years. The second dataset was a spreadsheet that had adescription of some of the routes, and the third was a shapefile that had the shapesof some routes that were developed about ten years ago. To handle these differentdatasets, the team created a workflow as shown in Figure 1. This workflow starts theValidation Lead of the project by selecting a certain number of routes from theinventory of routes provided by MOIT for processing. Routes are assigned to one ofthe Mapping Leads, whose first step is to go to the start or end station to verify if thisis still an active route, accounting for the lack of inventory tracking by the MOIT.4 | Page

If a route is no longer active, that would be documented as an inactive route in ourdatabase for the record. If the route was found to be active, then this route would bechecked in the other datasets. If the route has records in both datasets (i.e. has botha route description and a shapefile), the description and the shapefile would becross-checked by both the Validation and Mapping leads. In case the route doeshave a record in either of the two datasets or if the description and the shapefile donot match, this route will be designated as a route for mapping by the on-groundteam (i.e. for collecting GPS track data for the route). Cross-validated routes andGPX-tracked routes are then sent for production in the final system map.Figure 1. Validation and mapping workflow.If the route was sent for mapping, then a Mapping Lead (or designatedsubcontractor) would ride a transit vehicle that operates on the route and collectGPS Exchange (GPX) tracks using open-source GPX tracking software. OSMtracker isshown in Figure 2. We developed automated corrective scripts utilizing the Valhallaopen-source routing engine that map-match noisy GPS signals to align with theOSM roadway network, addressing any GPS inaccuracies as illustrated in Figure 3.Map-match route coordinates are then utilized to create transit route shapefiles. Thecode of map-matching GPX tracks through Valhalla is open-sourced in KhartouMap’sGitHub repository.5 | Page

Figure 2. GPX tracking on public transport routes.Figure 3. Tracking (left), Original GPS Tracks (top-right), and Map-Matching (bottom-right).6 | Page

Generating Khartoum Beta-GTFSOur team has mapped and validated over 300 routes serving the seven localities ofthe Khartoum State. Following data route data collection, we have started workingwith local authorities at the MOIT to generate the State’s and Nation’s first GTFS feed.While the progress on this, as with the rest of our project, was severely impacted bythe ongoing conflict in Khartoum, our team has produced a Beta-version GTFS. TheGTFS dependencies generated include the routes, shapes, times, and stops files, aswell as the general information on operating hours and time-of-day service levelestimates. This data has been used in our accessibility analysis covered in latersections of this report and will be open-sourced with the raw data collected by theKhartouMap team.Figure 4 illustrates the main transit corridors and stops (generated based on routeorigins and destinations) for the State of Khartoum. In-route stops are not illustratedas the system operates on a continuous pick-up and drop-off basis anywhere alongthe transit route. The appendix of this report includes a detailed map illustrating allthe routes, origins, destinations, and main terminals that serve the system.Figure 4. Main transit corridors and stops from the Khartoum Beta-GTFS.7 | Page

Mobility Survey Data CollectionTo accompany the physical network map, we designed a comprehensive mobilitysurvey to collect qualitative and quantitative information regarding the usage ofpublic transit in Khartoum. The survey included questions about public transportfrequency of use, purpose, most frequent trip origin and destination, travel time,accessibility to public transportation, and demographic information. The survey waslaunched online on different social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, andWhatsApp). We collected approximately 7,000 responses to the survey, a testamentto the public engagement efforts that our team has fostered throughout the project.Figure 4 shows a snapshot of the responses (when we had a little over 5,000responses) illustrating how our reach covered individuals with diverse transit use,age, employment status, and income levels.Figure 5. Snapshot of responses from the KhartouMap mobility survey.In addition to the online survey, we hired on-ground contractors to collect surveys inthe different bus terminals in Khartoum. We created this survey stream to reach outto individuals who might not be on social media, although the multi-generationalhousing arrangement of Sudan allowed us to reach different age levels through theyouth in the house on social media as illustrated above. The on-ground datacollection phase targeted areas (terminals and neighborhoods) that were lessrepresented after geocoding the online survey results. This on-ground effortcommenced in early April but was shortlived due to the start of the ongoing conflictin Khartoum on April 15th. We collected about 700 responses (~10% of our surveytotal) during the few days that this effort was sustained.8 | Page

Figure 6. KhartouMap team members conducting on-ground mobility surveying.Processing Survey DataThe survey responses from both the online and on-ground streams were combined,verified for accuracy and missing data, and exported as one file. In addition to theusage and demographic information provided by the respondents in the survey, weused text matching and geocoding of self-reported origins and destinations of tripsto match responses (where possible) to geolocation at the neighborhood level. Wewere able to geocode 89% of origins and 75% of destinations, which are illustrated inFigure 6. Additionally, the survey data open-sourced as a part of this project flagswhether the response was received online or in-person to allow for studying if therewere differences within those populations of respondents.9 | Page

Figure 7. Geocoded origins (left) and destinations (right) of the KhartouMap mobility survey.Analyzing Survey ResultsAnalysis of survey data yielded many valuable insights into Khartoum’s public transitsystem. Survey responses were distributed from riders across all seven localities andhad a representative age range. Survey responses tended to skew males (75%). Mostriders surveyed were regular public transit riders, using the system twice a day ormore. The reported purposes for trips were varied and ranged from work (mostcommon) to household grocery shopping, social trips, shopping for self, school oruniversity, and recreation.10 | Page

Figure 8. Respondent demographics and ridership frequency from the KharouMap mobilitysurvey.Several issues were self-reported by transit riders about to system. The top issuesidentified by riders were the following: (1) Overcrowding, (2) Reliability, (3) Cost, (4)Driver Behavior, (5) Lack of Info on Routes/Fares, (6) Personal Safety, (7) Availability,and (8) Sexual Harassment. The duration of most trips (over half of the datacollected) was between 30 minutes and 60 minutes. Top destinations all tended tobe in Khartoum, Khartoum, with over 75% of trips ending in a Khartoum destinationregardless of origin locality. The top stops in Khartoum are Al-Arabi Market (majortransit hub), Riyadh, and the University of Khartoum. Respondents were asked toreport on their first trip of the day throughout surveying, and results showed that80% of trips begin from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. These are the peak hours of demand.Within this window, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. is the most active time with the highestdemand. Typically riders require 2-3 transit lines to complete their trip, transferring1-2 times along the way.11 | Page

Figure 9. Key takeaways from the KharouMap mobility survey.Most riders walk in order to access the public transit system (80%). A smaller portiontakes a raksha (3-wheeled tuk-tuk) or ride with a friend/family to access publictransit. For more than half of transit riders, this initial trip takes between 5 minutes -20 minutes. At the time of data collection, the daily average range for spending ontransit was between 640 - 740 SDG for the typical rider.12 | Page

Accessibility AnalysisOne of the main purposes of the KhartouMap project was to assess servicecoverage and accessibility of the Khartoum ‘muwasalat’ system for Khartoum State.Three types of analyses were run to assess accessibility.Coverage of Transit SystemFirst, the percent coverage of the transit network was assessed by finding thepercentage of neighborhoods that are within a reasonable walking distance of thenearest transit line. According to KhartouMap surveying, 80% of riders reportedwalking as their main means of accessing public transit.The best-served neighborhoods using the transit network are central areas inKhartoum, Omdurman, Jebel Awlia, Bahri, and Sharig Al-Nile. Khartoum is the onlylocality with 100% transit coverage within 30 minutes walking distance to allneighborhoods. Localities with large unserved areas (further than a 30-minute walkto the nearest transit line) are Bahri (34% of neighborhood areas), Sharg Al-Nile (32%),Umbada, and Omdurman (31% each), and Karrari (27%). Jebel Awlia has thesecond-best transit coverage at 90% transit coverage with 10% unservedneighborhood areas.Figure 10. Percentage of neighborhoods covered in each locality under varying access thresholds.13 | Page

Legend: Percent Coverage (Area) by NeighborhoodFigure 11. Transit coverage under each access scenario (right to left: near, medium, far).Distance on Public Transit to Nearest AmenitiesNext, the accessibility of neighborhoods to the nearest amenities was also assessed.OD matrices were calculated to reveal the closest amenity for each neighborhood.The following categories were analyzed:- Hospitals - Banks - Universities - Colleges - Schools- Marketplaces - Courthouses - Bus Stops -SupermarketsConsistently, supermarkets and bus stops are the closest / most accessibleamenities for most neighborhoods (3km on average). Next are schools (4km), banks(5km), and hospitals (8km). Distances reported in this section of analysis include thewalk to and from the transit line at the entrance and exit. For the closest distance toamenities, Khartoum is the best locality (3km to all amenities on average). InOmdurman — the next best locality — the average distance is 1.5x times that ofKhartoum. Each of the following localities has approximately 3x times the distancesof Khartoum: Jebel Awlia, Bahri, Umbada, and Karrari. Sharg Al-Nile is generallypoorly served by amenities with significantly longer distances (10x times thedistances of Khartoum). Distances reported here are for the median neighborhoods14 | Page

of each locality to control for outliers (I.e. particularly far neighborhood areas inKhartoum State, which is a large geographic area beyond what is typicallyconsidered central Khartoum city). Please refer to the detailed accessibility analysisreport to see simulated time estimates (in minutes) on public transit for the abovedistances.Figure 12. Median cumulative distance to access nearest essential services by locality.Distance on Public Transit to Randomized LocationsLastly, from survey results, we know that the overwhelming majority of trips (70%)are directed towards Khartoum, regardless of the origin locality. In the survey,respondents were asked about their first trip of the day, so we can assume theopposite is largely true at the end of the day (mainly outbound trips from Khartoumto all localities). For this analysis section, randomized points of interest were selectedin each locality, and trips were modeled to and from localities. The results are 49unique pairs (7 x 7 matrix). Note that pairs are not bi-directional and areuni-directionally distinct (i.e. Khartoum -> Bahri is not the same as Bahri -> Khartoum).Distances reported here are only network distances, which is time traveled on thetransit lines. It does not include entering or exiting the network to a final destination.Shortest, or most efficient trips, typically originate in Khartoum going to otherlocalities or are within a locality (such as Omdurman - Omdurman) or to theneighboring locality (such as Omdurman to Umbada). Where there is variationbetween a route and its inverse or opposite route, this is typically due to the greaterrange of neighborhood distances. Residential areas tend to have a largerdisbursement in terms of geographic area than points of interest.15 | Page

Top 11 most efficient/accessible O-D pairs:(1) Khartoum to Khartoum (9km) - (28.1% of surveyed riders)(2) Khartoum to Jebel Awlia (14km) - (0.3% of surveyed riders)(3) Omdurman to Omdurman (16km) - (5.3% of surveyed riders)(4) Jebel Awlia to Jebel Awlia (16km) - (1.0% of surveyed riders)(5) Khartoum to Omdurman (16km) - (2.1% of surveyed riders)(6) Umbada to Umbada (19km) - (0.5% of surveyed riders)(7) Omdurman to Umbada (19km) - (0.3% of surveyed riders)(8) Umbada to Omdurman (21km) - (0.8% of surveyed riders)(9) Khartoum to Bahri (22km) - (1.7% of surveyed riders)(10) Omdurman to Khartoum (22km) - (11.2% of surveyed riders)(11) Khartoum to Umbada (22km) - (0.0% of surveyed riders)Only two of the most trafficked routes (by survey results) fall within the top 10 mostefficient routes through the current transit network. Those routes are Khartoum toKhartoum (28.1% of respondents) and Omdurman to Khartoum (11.2% ofrespondents).The next three heavily trafficked routes have the greatest opportunity for improvement.These routes are:(1) Bahri to Khartoum (34km) (10.1% surveyed riders) (#24 rank)(2) Sharg Al-Nile to Khartoum (45km) (7.5% surveyed riders) (#37 rank)(3) Jebel Awlia to Khartoum (12km) (7.4%% surveyed riders) (#17 rank)The next routes with significant room for improvement are:(4) Bahri to Bahri (27km) (4.7% surveyed riders) (#17 rank)(5) Karrari to Khartoum (37km) (3.9% surveyed riders) (#28 rank)(6) Sharg Al-Nile to Sharg Al-Nile (45km) (2.2% surveyed riders) (#38 rank)(7) Umbada to Khartoum (32km) (2.0% surveyed riders) (#23 rank)(8) Bahri to Omdurman (35km) (1.8% surveyed riders) (#25 rank)(9) Sharg Al-Nile to Bahri (51km) (1.5% surveyed riders) (#42 rank)(10) Omdurman to Bahri (30km) (1.5% surveyed riders)(#21 rank)(11) Karrari to Omdurman (19km) (1.5% surveyed riders)Across all routes — weighted by transit ridership percentages — the calculatedaverage time in the transit network for the typical rider (per trip) is 35 minutes induration and 24 kilometers in distance. This aligns with self-reported averages in theKharouMap survey where approximately 30% of riders reported a trip duration of30-45 minutes, another 25% reported trip times of 45-60 minutes, and 23% reportedtrip times of 15-30 minutes.16 | Page

Table 1. Observed Origin-Destination Frequency From KhartouMap Mobility SurveyTable 2. Average Nearest Distance to Randomized Cross-Locality DestinationsKey TakeawaysIn conclusion, large opportunities for improvement exist in expanding the transitnetwork. One opportunity is to expand the transit network to include access to moreneighborhoods, particularly in the peripheries of the State. This could include lateralexpansion of the network to include smaller through-streets, which is the current17 | PageDistance,kilometersDestinationKhartoumOmdurmanBahriSharg Al NeelJebel AwliaKarrariUmbadaOriginKhartoum9162236142422Omdurman22163047282319Bahri34352753443838Sharg Al Neel45505145545655Jebel Awlia23323953164038Karrari37293758462329Umbada32213554402319

norm for Khartoum, and one of the main reasons for 100% transit coverage. Thiswould also help improve travel times for intra-locality destinations, which are bothpopular and in need of better service according to our analysis results. The currenttransit layer should be used to prioritize infrastructure planning, particularly toassess the access to amenities for different populations. It can also be used directlyto assess the load on different amenities. For example, certain hospitals serve over80 neighborhoods directly as their closest means of medical services, while otherhospitals only serve 3 neighborhoods. Other factors such as specialization ofhospitals, cost, and perceived quality also need to be considered, but distance andaccessibility still remain primary factors. Next, careful thought should be put intomajor conduits of travel between and through localities. Expanding the transitnetwork can optimize coverage and distances traveled, but speed ultimately will becapped by factors like the quality of roads, traffic, and safety (maximum speeds forbuses). Khartoum is currently a single-modal transit system (primarily) using buses,but other means of transit can more effectively carry riders long distances at higherspeeds and capacities through major arteries. Options include light rail, tram lines,dedicated bus lanes, and more. Future decision-makers should carefully considerthese options. Lastly, another option is to connect isolated areas of the transitnetwork to more inter-connected areas directly. This can greatly expand access forcurrently underserved or unserved areas with minimal lift and maximize the utility ofthe current system. Decision-makers should also put adequate thought into thegrowth of Khartoum and the surrounding areas, as plans for future growth shouldnot be dependent only on historical information and data. Future factors likepopulation growth, infrastructure planning, climate change, and equity areimperative to consider.Limitations of AnalysisLimitations of the current study include the inability to weigh by neighborhoodpopulation. Many neighborhoods are particularly geographically far and may not beheavily populated, but we are currently unable to include this dimension in ourstudy. Estimates of survey route ridership provided an adequate proxy, thoughincomplete. Next, the KhartouMap team acknowledges the drastic changes that canbe anticipated since the war in Khartoum which began on April 15th, 2023. All datapresented here was collected before the war in late 2022 and early 2023, andanalysis represents this time frame. It is the closest baseline to public transitcoverage before the war. We hope that it will be valuable when the time comes torebuild.18 | Page

Lessons Learned, Challenges, and Next StepsCore Transit OperationsOne of the main challenges that transit agencies in other countries like Sudan face isthe majority of the transit system is privately operated by individuals who ownvehicles. State-operated vehicles only make up 2% of the existing fleet. Privatelyoperated systems run based on drivers’ knowledge of and experience with demandrather than on a fixed schedule, therefore it is difficult to develop fixed schedulesand expect adherence. During the mapping process, our Mapping Leads andon-ground team members have noticed deviations from planned routes to be arecurring phenomenon, be it short deviations in avoidance of traffic or vehiclesoperating on entirely different routes than their licensed route (typically imprinted onthe sides of the vehicles). Those attitudes make it increasingly difficult to provideriders with reliable information even after developing and maintaining a robust GTFSand will require additional training and oversight for compliance.Public EngagementOur team has placed immense emphasis on public engagement to build rapport forthe second phase of our project which was planned around community-centeredactivities. We’ve engaged our audience on social media channels (Facebook,Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter) from the get-go, clearly communicating thegoals of our initiative and the impact we plan to make. This attracted attention notonly from Sudan but also plenty of expatriates and non-Sudanese from differentcountries around the world as illustrated below. In spite of the lack of paid socialmedia advertising in Sudan due to sanctions, our robust network of audience grewexponentially throughout the project allowing us to reach tens of thousands ofnon-followers.Figure 13. Reach and engagement on KhartouMap social media.19 | Page

Although our plans for a second phase focused on community-centered activities(workshops, hackathons, and start-up competitions) were upended by the ongoingconflict in Khartoum, this robust presence on social media was incredibly helpful forus to complete our core tasks of data collection and beyond. Youth were quiteexcited to participate and volunteer with our team. We had over 30 routes trackedvia GPX by everyday users who wanted to document their trips on public transportafter a social media post by our team that explained how everyday users cansupport us by installing a GPX tracker and crowdsourcing their data. The value of ourpublic engagement effort was most evident when we reached over 5,000respondents in less than one week after launching our mobility survey, eventuallyreceiving ~7,000 responses. While our initial hypothesis was to test the survey onlineand work to get the bulk of responses on the ground, our on-ground surveyors wereoften met with varying levels of skepticism about “potentially collecting data forgovernment” which people aren’t quite fond of. 90% of our survey responses camefrom online channels. Although our online audience is mostly on the younger side(35 years and younger), the multi-generation home structure of the Sudanesecommunity allowed us to reach diverse age groups by encouraging online surveytakers to ask their family members to take the survey as well.Partnerships and Working in SudanIn addition to building an incredible internal team that has conducted the workoutlined in this whitepaper, we pride ourselves in the partnerships that KhartouMapwas able to form. As we planned this project with a focus on route mapping andmobility survey data collection, we worked to initiate communication channels withthe leaders at the local government in Khartoum explaining the scope of work, thebenefit it will present to the state, and the country, and the means by which they cansupport this youth-led initiative. We've since established an excellent workingpartnership, which provided a safe working environment for the local contractors wehired to collect data, and allowed us to form robust partnerships with privatebusinesses that would have otherwise been deterred from participating in such alarge-scale project that would inevitably draw the attention of the government. Thiswas in addition to existing connections with research and practice leaders at the MITUrban Mobility, Transit, and Civic Data Design labs. As we thought of planning afollow-up phase after data collection with a bigger focus on disseminating the data,generating new knowledge, and identifying impactful use cases, we partnered withZahara for Education, a social enterprise focused on creating and fosteringeducational opportunities between Sudan and experts in the United States. ThroughZahara, had direct channels with local universities and entrepreneurshipcommunities.20 | Page

Figure 14.Mapping KhartouMap’s partnerships.In addition to those partnerships, our team has met with the leaders of Transport forCairo, the Association of Sudanese American Professors in America (ASAPA), SavannahInnovation Labs (a startup incubator and innovation space in Khartoum, Sudan), andGO (a shared mobility provider in Khartoum, Sudan). We will continue to work onforming strong partnerships with entities that will add value to the future works thatwill build up on this rich mobility database we produced.While those great partnerships and immense community engagement have madenavigating this project quite rewarding, the political instability - demonstrated to theextreme by the ongoing conflict in Khartoum which has completely halted our work,displaced our team members and millions of citizens, and caused widespreaddestruction and loss of life - is a somber reminder of the immense externalities thatmake work in places like Sudan challenging. This situation exacerbated the alreadydifficult environment of funding work in a country strangled by unjust internationalfinancial sanctions, a fragile economy, and a local currency that loses value by thehour. It is in such environments, we believe, that continuing to do such work is notonly necessary because it provides much-needed technical solutions but also hope.We aspire that KhartouMap is only the start of a wave of youth-led projects andinitiatives that will rebuild a better Sudan.21 | Page

References● Klopp, Jacqueline M., and Clemence Cavoli. "Mapping minibuses in Maputo andNairobi: engaging paratransit in transportation planning in African cities." TransportReviews 39, no. 5 (2019): 657-676● Williams, Sarah, Adam White, Peter Waiganjo, Daniel Orwa, and Jacqueline Klopp."The digital matatu project: Using cell phones to create an open source data forNairobi's semi-formal bus system." Journal of Transport Geography 49 (2015): 39-51.● Zegras, P. Christopher, Emily Eros, Kuan Butts, Elizabeth Resor, Stephen Kennedy,Albert Ching, and Muntasir Mamun. "Tracing a path to knowledge? Indicative userimpacts of introducing a public transport map in Dhaka, Bangladesh." CambridgeJournal of Regions, Economy and Society 8, no. 1 (2015): 113-129.● Central Bureau of Statistics, Khartoum State Population Estimates, 2020,http://www.cbs.gov.sd/● MEFIT Consulting Ltd., Khartoum Transport and Mobility Master Plan. KhartoumMinistry of Infrastructure and Transport, 2014.● United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) countryoffice in Sudan, Administrative Boundaries for the State of Khartoum, 2020,https://data.humdata.org/dataset/sudan-administative-boundaries-2● NextGIS Data, Khartoum State Basemap, 2023,https://data.nextgis.com/en/region/SD-KH/base/● The KhartouMap Initiative, 2022, https://sd.linkedin.com/company/khartoumap22 | Page

Khartoum State Transit Map The KhartouMap Initiative is a Sudanese youth led WRI funded initiative for mapping the semi formal bus system of Khartoum The initiative focuses on producing open source maps data for research and Sudan s first GTFS compliant feed Data Source KhartouMap and Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport of Khartoum State Legend Terminal Intersection Bus Route River Nile Khartoum Center Route Destnation AA Destnation Name Urban Area Map designer Eng Razan Osama Awad Map Creation Date 14 4 2023 karari Military Area Alnuba Om kati Algazera Eslang Algayli Wawsy Alwadi Khartoum Petrochemical Company Dabk Garri wad Ramli Nifasha Dar Alsalam Alhila Algadeda Madint Alsfoa Almnara Moaskar Wad Albasheer Alshatei Alkhdair Algrafa Alfath 2 Alfath 1 Althura 75 Althura 73 Althura 54 Suq Markazi Althura 44 Althura 43 Sabreen Althura 30 Alhtana Althura 29 Althura 14 Elfitemab Ombada 21 Althura 19 Himidan Elgadir Althura 6 Dar Alsalam block 1 2 Almamoura Dar Alsalam North Dar Alsalam block 3 4 Dar Alsalam Dongla Dar Alsalam Alzariba Aljimiab Ombada 10 Ombada 11 Sug Libya Madani Sug Abuzaid Alsabeel Dar ALSalam block 42 Albuhira Alrashdeen Alomda Sug Alshabi Alhilal Staduim Sug Omdurman Shuhadda Alahlia Islamic university Angola Wad Albasheer Algmayr Albank Alaqari Almorbat Altkamol Hgleega Salha Alsheqlla Abu seid Alshigla East Elrimela Jadeen Salha zalat Salha zalat Elazozab Gabra Midlle Gabra South Gabra East Tuti Almnara Alhlfaya Khour Omer Elazozab Alsgana AAllffaakkii HHaasshhiimm Alkadro OAmlfAaklgi uHrasNhoimrth OAmlfAaklgi uHrasshoimuth Aldrushab North Aldrushab Aldrushab South Aldrushab East Aldrushab East Alsamrab North Alsamrab South Alsamrab East Shmbat South Shmbat North Alsug Almarkazi Tayba Alahamda Almazad Bahri Industrial Area Kober Omet Almokhar Khartoum Stadium Shruni Railway Station Bori Bori blnos Elmanshia Elgiref Alglaa Sug Alshabi Aloshara Almina Albarri Alsahafa East Alsug Almarkazi Arkaweet Elferdos Elgiref Alshitta Elmamora Islamic Center Alengaz Almojahdeen Sug Maio Maio Alsallama Alengaz Soba Alaradi Soba Ellouta Nabta Dardog Hatab ELmygoma Shigla North Altlal Haj Yousif Street 1 Haj Yousif Radmia Haj Yousif Shigla Takamol Radmia Street 1 Eljiref Hillat Koko Alsug Almarkazi Umm Doom Sug 6 Soba Alhila Elsomra Elfadni Soba East Altawedat Whda Green Valy Ed babkir Altawedat Alshaikh Alameen Algoba North Alshikh Alnaneir Wad Alagli Alsomra haj Altlhar Sangaat Sug Allafa Alwehda Alftaih Algadsia Alshgylab Om Rabah Alkalaklla East Arak Salih Sug Aljabel Dar Alsalam Samir Village Algadeed Althwra Alti Butri Elbagr Om dawn ban Umm Takali Ktrang Albashaqra Ed Nasir Alshaikh albsheer Alrasheed Aldrysab Abu Dileg Wad Alameen

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