The 3rd Paratransit / Popular Transportation Day at Transforming Transportation 2025

Join us for the 3rd edition of Paratransit/Popular Transportation Day (P/PTD), a one-day mini-conference taking place immediately after Transforming Transportation 2025 (TT25). This unique event is dedicated to recognizing and elevating paratransit services—also referred to as popular transportation, informal transportation, intermediate public transportation, or artisanal transportation—privately provided yet publicly serving local transport systems that are vital in cities across the Global South.

This year’s event centers on the theme: “Pathway Partners: Engaging Paratransit/Popular Transportation as Assets to Building Sustainable Transportation.” The focus will be on showcasing how paratransit systems can serve as critical assets in creating more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban transport networks.

Objectives and Focus Areas 

The 3rd P/PTD aims to advance the understanding, integration, and improvement of paratransit systems while exploring their critical role in sustainable transportation. Through four key themes, the event will:

• Practice: Showcase global progress in integrating paratransit/popular transport with city and metropolitan systems.
• People: Highlight the vital contributions of workers and owner-drivers and fostering trust between governments and operators.
• Resources: Explore innovative financing mechanisms from MDBs, IFIs, philanthropies, and other global funding sources.
• Research: Present cutting-edge tools and knowledge that inform better policy and planning decisions.

By focusing on these areas, the event aims to share lessons learned from the implementation of real-world policies and projects across the globe; strengthen networks dedicated to integrating paratransit into policy, planning, and investments; unlock global finance for paratransit systems; and lay the foundation for greater collaboration with the driver-owners and workers of the micro- and small-enterprises that operate these vital systems.

Draft Agenda

(Schedule subject to change; exact start times will be announced soon)

Morning Sessions:

• Weaving Networks Panel: What we’re learning from efforts to connect institutional transportation and paratransit/popular transportation (practice).
• Two-Way Street Dialogue: Governments and paratransit/popular transport operators and workers—how do we move at the speed of trust? (people).

Afternoon Sessions:

• Bridges & Keys Roundtable: Unlocking mechanisms for investments in paratransit/popular transport micro and small enterprises (resources).
• Street Smarts World Café: The latest research about paratransit/popular transport ecosystems (research).

Important Participation Details

Attendance to P/PTD is free, but space is limited. Please note that the organizers will not provide travel assistance, stipends, or visa support. Additionally, registering for P/PTD does not include access to TT25, and vice versa; separate registrations are required for each event.

Event Organizers

The event is co-organized by the Africa Transport Policy Program (SSATP); the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) at Columbia’s Climate School; Climate Champions; Digital Transport for Africa (DT4A); the Global Network for Popular Transportation (GNPT); the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITWF); the Partnership for Research in Informal and Shared Mobility (PRISM); the Shared-Use Mobility Center (SUMC); Transport for Cairo (TfC); the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF); the World Bank; and the World Resources Institute (WRI) Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.

Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with a dynamic community of policymakers, practitioners, and thought leaders working to shape the future of popular transport.