Collection of Daladala Routes

Map of public transport in Dar es salaam link

Dar es salaam Transport

Dar es Salaam’s public transport system is primarily built around Daladala minibuses, which form the backbone of daily commuting for the majority of the city’s residents. In addition to Daladalas, the city also operates a ferry service across the harbor, a commuter train, and a modern Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system known as DART (Dar Rapid Transit), which began operations in 2016 to improve urban mobility.

Back in 2015, as part of the Ramani Huria team, we collaborated with ally, a transport and mobility-focused company, on a project to map the entire Daladala minibuses network of Dar es Salaam. This was an initiative aimed at bringing greater visibility and structure to the informal and semi-formal transport system that millions rely on every day.

Our main task was to organize and manage teams of local mappers, assigning them specific bus routes across the city to document. These mappers would ride Daladalas, recording routes and frequencies using GPS-enabled tools. This data collection was essential for building a comprehensive open dataset of the city’s transport network.

The project not only helped visualize the complex web of routes but also laid the groundwork for future urban planning, route optimization, and the integration of digital transport tools. It was one of the early examples in the region of using open mapping and data science to make cities more accessible and livable.

Mappers boarding Daladala buses to map routes

Here is a live demo of the bus route data that were collected, showing the mapping process in action. This interactive map showcases the actual tracks recorded by mappers as they go through different Daladala routes throughout the city — a powerful visual representation of just how extensive and vital this transport network is.

Additionally, we documented the entire project and made the data open for everyone. You can find a detailed overview of the project and its results, on the Dar es Salaam Transport Wiki hosted by OpenStreetMap. This serves as a valuable resource for anyone looking to understand urban transport mapping or to replicate similar projects in other cities. The wiki for the project can be found here transport wiki.