Transforming transport data into sustainable health system solutions
Health systems depend on reliable transport to connect communities with healthcare, deliver medicines and vaccines, transport diagnostic samples, and respond rapidly to public health emergencies. Yet many transport planning exercises stop at identifying the most efficient routes, without addressing how those networks can be implemented, managed and sustained.
Riders MAPS (Mobility Assessment & Planning Scenarios) bridges that gap.
Developed by Riders for Health, Riders MAPS is a transport planning and decision-support methodology that combines geospatial analysis, transport systems engineering, operational expertise and financial modelling to design practical, implementable health transport systems. By integrating health facility data, transport assets, service demand, road networks and local knowledge, Riders MAPS enables Ministries of Health and development partners to optimise transport networks while understanding the resources and investment required to deliver them successfully.
Designing smarter health transport systems
Riders MAPS supports strategic planning and optimisation across a wide range of health transport services, including:
- Specimen referral networks – optimising routine and outbreak specimen transport to improve laboratory turnaround times and diagnostic access.
- Community health worker mobility – designing efficient deployment and travel scenarios for mobilised community health workers to maximise coverage, productivity and service delivery.
- Referral transport systems – optimising patient referral routes and vehicle utilisation to improve access to higher levels of care.
- Emergency medical services – identifying the optimal location of ambulance bases and modelling emergency response scenarios to improve response times and population coverage.
- Integrated health transport – evaluating opportunities to combine specimen transport, medicines, vaccines and patient referrals within a coordinated transport system.
From optimisation to implementation
Many transport planning tools identify the shortest or fastest routes. Riders MAPS goes further by translating analytical outputs into operational transport systems.
Our methodology enables organisations to:
- Create optimised transport routes for routine and emergency health services
- Model alternative transport scenarios and service configurations
- Determine fleet size, type and deployment requirements
- Optimise ambulance station locations and referral networks
- Plan community health worker mobility and service coverage
- Estimate operational, maintenance and lifecycle costs
- Develop phased implementation roadmaps and investment plans
The result is a transport system that is not only technically efficient but also operationally feasible and financially sustainable.
Riders MAPS compliments existing technologies
Most route optimisation exercises conclude with the production of an optimised route map. Riders MAPS takes the next step by translating these analytical outputs into practical, implementable transport systems.
Supporting stronger health systems
Riders MAPS helps governments and partners strengthen health systems by improving how transport resources are planned, deployed and managed.
Applications include:
- National specimen referral network design
- Diagnostic and laboratory transport optimisation
- Outbreak preparedness and emergency response planning
- Community health worker mobility planning
- Referral ambulance network optimisation
- Emergency ambulance base location analysis
- Fleet deployment and utilisation modelling
- Integrated transport planning across multiple health programmes
The methodology complements existing diagnostic network optimisation and health planning tools by converting analytical recommendations into practical transport system designs, implementation plans and sustainable financing models.
Our approach
Every Riders MAPS assignment follows a structured methodology:
Understand – Assess health service demand, transport resources, operational requirements and existing network performance.
Analyse – Integrate geospatial, demographic, transport and health system data to model current operations and identify opportunities for improvement.
Optimise – Develop and compare alternative routing, fleet deployment and service delivery scenarios to identify the most effective solution.
Plan – Produce implementation roadmaps, fleet deployment strategies, financial models and investment plans that support sustainable delivery.
Implement – Support Ministries of Health and partners to translate evidence into operational health transport systems that improve access, efficiency and resilience.
Contact us to see how we can help you turn every mile into a health mile
