Overview of public transport policy developments in South Africa

Abstract

Public transport in South Africa is one of the most burning issues in the transport sector. The government is faced with huge public pressure to improve public transport systems in the face of rising fuel costs, the pending implementation of expensive urban toll road systems in the Gauteng province, and elsewhere in urban environments, public transport safety issues, public transport fleet renewal, especially the commuter rail services, as well as limited resources to fund public transport. As a developing country, the South African Government has pressing funding issues such as funds needed to improve housing for the poor to improve schooling and public health services. Government is also faced with a vocal minibus taxi industry that transports an estimated 65% of all commuters in the country that is also insisting on subsidies for its services.Many policies and strategies have been put in place to address the public transport system in the country, some more successful than others. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the latest policy and strategy developments, to highlight the latest modal developments and to build on previous overviews in the Thredbo Conference series.