Dakar has a population estimated at nearly 3.5 million. Its transport system is based on a multiplicity of modes: fast cars and minibuses, taxis, buses, the Small Suburban Train (PTB), carriages, etc. As a result of a process initiated in the 1990s, the creation of CETUD occurred in a context of urban transport crisis characterized by:

• A rapid and anarchic acceleration of the urbanization of the Dakar agglomeration, with an annual growth rate of about 4% and an increase of the population of nearly 50% between 1978 and 1988, to exceed 1.5 million in 1990;
• Imperfect control of transport supply and demand: low car ownership rate (estimated at 34 vehicles per 1000 inhabitants in 2003), dilapidated fleet (average age of 20 for public transport), infrastructure of poor quality, favoring many traffic conflicts and a loss of commercial speed, transport operators in difficulty (mismanagement and inability to meet investment needs);
• An institutional and legal framework marked by a wide dispersion of powers: no authority feels fully responsible for urban transport issues;
• A high cost of malfunctions, the loss of which is estimated for 1998 alone to more than 108 billion CFA francs (about 165 million euros);
• Unskilled human resources in urban transport, despite a culture of public transport very early developed in Dakar (in 1990, 58% of the daily needs of displacement estimated at 1'500'000 are satisfied by the public transport): a lack of follow-up and a poor result of the development actions initiated and carried out with the support of development partners.

It was at the end of the Saly seminar of May 1992, organized under the aegis of the World Bank and the French Cooperation under the SSATP-Urban Transport program, that the process of the reform of the sub-sector started. urban transport, at the initiative of the State and according to a participatory approach integrating all the actors concerned, public and private.

This process resulted in the creation of the Urban Transport Executive Council of Dakar in 1997, through legislation, in the form of a public institution of a professional nature. The CETUD was supposed to put an end to the dispersion of the decision-making centers so as to place the ultimate responsibility for public transport and to ensure a better coordination of public transport, through a concerted approach, with the participation of the State, local authorities and local authorities. private sector.

Mission

The Executive Council of Urban Transports of Dakar (CETUD) is a public establishment of professional character created by the law n ° 97-01 of March 10th, 1997 . Its mission is to implement and monitor the application of the sectoral policy of urban public transport defined by the State, for the region of Dakar. It is essentially a matter of organizing and regulating the supply of public urban passenger transport, in order to improve the operating conditions of the operators on a long-term basis and, consequently, the displacements of the populations of the Dakar agglomeration.

CETUD is a framework of consultation that brings together the State, Local Authorities and the Private Sector. At the request of the State or local authorities, CETUD can provide assistance to the regions. It is placed under the technical supervision of the Ministry in charge of Land Transport and under the financial supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. 

On behalf of the State, local authorities and professionals, CETUD exercises the following attributions established by Decree No. 2001-557 of 19 July 2001:

 

• determine the lines to be served, the corresponding public transport permit quotas and their technical operating procedures;
• draft terms of reference, terms of reference and tender documents, issue agreements with authorized carriers and control the performance of contracts;
• propose pricing policies to the competent authorities;
• identify the constraints of the public service and determine the possible financial compensation related thereto;
• develop criteria for access to the public transport profession;
• conducting studies and training, information or promotion actions for urban public transport in the Dakar region;
• coordinate the different modes of public transport, including arbitration of revenue sharing, in case of tariff integration;
• develop and support the implementation of programs of actions and investments for the improvement of the level of service of infrastructures, traffic and road safety;
• to improve the condition and quality of the car fleet to contribute to the fight against noise pollution and air pollution generated by motorized transport.