INVESTIGATION INTO THE OPERATION OF DIFFERENT TRANSPORT AGENCIES

ABSTRACT
This project is based on Investigation into the operation of different transport agency in Kwara Express, Young Legacy, Kasmag and Emirate service Questionnaires and oral interview method of data collections were adopted, in which about 100 questions are distributed and oral interview carried out in the study area.

The results was analysed and fuel price is the major factor that is influencing vehicle operation costs.

While cost maintenance of the vehicle is also contributed immensely to the operation of both organization. In the course of the project Kwara Express Bus is cheaper compared with other Transport service as per cost/Km covered.

CHAPTER ONE
1.0. INTRODUCTION
Transportation is vital for the economic development of any country because it include the movement of goods and people from one region or location to another. It is no doubt that it contribute immensely to the economic, industrial, social and cultural development of any country, while the inadequacy of transport operation facilities retards the process of social economic development of a country base on vehicle operation.
There are three modes of transportation this are land, water and air.

Land has given scope for development of road and rail transports water and air developed water ways and air ways respectively.
Vehicle operation are branch of traffic operation cost varies with performance of road network and terminals therefore, vehicle operation cost varies from one transport agency to another which includes direct user expenses to public and private vehicle user (plus incremental costs for mobility substitutes such as tele work).

These indicate the savings that result when vehicle ownership and users reduced vehicle cost can be measured per-vehicle mile, passenger mile or vehicle years, or various other ways. Each perspective produces different results.

These can be divided into fixed (also called ownership) and variable (also called operating marginal or incremental) cost.

Theoretically, Variable cost increase with vehicle mileage and fixed cost do not.

However, many fixed costs actually barely to some degree with distance.
The Kwara express is owned by Kwara state government, operate within the state and inter-state transportation, Kasmag, young legacy and emirate is owned by the private management majorly for inter-state transportation.
In early nineties, the assembly line technique of motor vehicle manufacturing was proposed by an American industrialist “Henry ford” which consequently bought down production cost of vehicle whereby making it affordable for people to own vehicles.

With more vehicle on the road more roads had to be constructed to accommodate the increased traffic vehicle operation, these new road complemented the existing roads. Thereby, increasing the vehicle operation
Human population is never stagnant and always threatens to outstrip available resources both natural and man made.

(Thomas, 1793) considering these, couple with the front that higher traffic volume of vehicle operation scheme users.

As a result of these, vehicle operation began to experience conflict as demand of operation keep increasing.

This turn to traffic jams and increased road accidents, vehicles maintenance and repair, fuel consumptions tolls e.t.c
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
The relationship between transportation and urban property values has been the focus of many studies (for example, Dewees, 1976; Damm et al, 1980; Wolf, 1992; Singh, 2005).

Some of the earlier studies returned positive relationship between transport and property values while others showed negative relationship.

For instance, in a study on the relationship between rail travel cost and residential property values, a replacement of streetcar with subway increased site rent at a location that is perpendicular to the facility within a one-third mile walk to the station (Dewees, 1976); and there was positive influence of permanent transportation improvements on land values (Wolf,1992).

It was established that there was statistically significant relationship between distance of a parcel of land to the nearest Metro station and land price (Damm, Lerner-Lam, and Young, 1980), while there was evidence that residential property prices decrease immediately around the transport investment or station value uplift through changes in land values (Singh, 2005).

The urban areas all over the world offer a number of advantages in terms of concentration of people followed by demand for commercial properties and transportation.
The roads exhibit a number of nodes and linkages to form networks of both arterial and minor routes along which commercial properties locate.

Commercial users displaced residential users, causing sites to be at highest and best uses with concomitant increases in the values of commercial properties.

Accessibility within the road network is affected by the compact nature of various routes that sometimes impede volume of traffic.

The road network is made up of nodal points and links that determine the degree of connectivity and accessibility in the network.
A number of factors affect values of properties.

These factors may be intrinsic or extrinsic.

The extrinsic factors include increase in demand for let table space, location, condition of adjoining properties, nearness to park and leisure, local and national economic conditions.

External factors are due to natural characteristics of the property which affect the city where the property is located. Intrinsic factors arise from within the nature of the property itself and relate to the physical attributes, including size of room, state of repair, decoration, and facilities.

Other attributes that increase or decrease the amount that users are willing and able to pay in an open market transaction include physical characteristics of the structure, change in taste and demand, effect of adjacent activities, economic activities, inflation, and changes in legislation.

The demand for commercial properties itself is affected by changes in population, planning and development schemes, legislation, and availability of good road networks (Hendon, 1971; William, Davies, and Johnson, 1980; Richmond, 1982; Millington, 1982; Olayiwola, Adeleye and Oduwaye, 2006).
Earlier theorists (Burgess, 1925; Hoyt, 1939; Harris and Ullman, 1951; Lean and Goodall, 1977) generally believe that sites adjacent to main transport routes have relative advantages over those located some distance away, and other sites located at route intersections possess relative advantage with greater advantages belonging to sites located at focus of transport system.

These advantages are determined in relation to accessibility, which has different characteristics in relation to individual sites thus differentiating between sites in terms of accessibility advantages.

Many of the aforementioned studies emphasized the effects of the factors on values of properties generally with little consideration given to road network pattern and its effects on values of commercial properties.

Possible relationships between road networks, location attribute, demand and supply, and accessibility and commercial property values have therefore elicited the interest of the researcher in this direction.

The relationship cannot be determined without due consideration given to the explanatory variables on one hand and commercial property values on the other.

The use of roads leads to a study of urban areas in relation to land uses, especially commercial properties. It is against this background that this study was conceived.
1.2 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The aim of the study is to investigate into the operation of different transport agencies in Kwara State.
The objectives are:
– To know the rate of changes in cost of travelling operation
– To increas
– To determine their effect on economic of the state
1.3 JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM
It is amongst earlier studies on accessibility in relation to property values that profitability and utility are determined by accessibility. The greater the accessibility of a location the greater the comparative advantage, and the greater the comparative advantages the greater the demand for property at the location. Lean and Good all (1977), for instance, stated that urban areas naturally develop at nodal points in the transport network and those locations with good transport access to other areas have relative advantage over locations with poorer transport facilities and that urban locations having such relative advantages are likely to be where transport routes converge.

Similarly, Estate Surveyors/Values and Planners believe that accessibility has great impacts on property values, with properties along major roads and at nodal points having greater values (Ogunsanya, 1986; Oduwaye, 2004; Omoogun, 2006).
However, accessibility discussed in these studies was based on intuition without empirical basis to justify what relative accessibility advantages the locations have.
This study borrows techniques found useful in other fields like operational research, geography, transportation and urban planning to explain and analyze road network for purpose of determining the relative accessibility of each of the arterial roads.

It is believed that the techniques used in these fields can be extended to studies in estate management, thereby making cross-fertilization of research ideas across various fields possible.

In this regard, this research has become relevant in determining the relationship between arterial road network and values of commercial properties in Ilorin.

In addition, it is essential to establish a technique that may be useful for determining relative accessibility of locations in the network of arterial roads.

Even when relative advantages are determined, there is need to develop models that will be useful for predicting commercial property values in Nigeria.