Abstract
South Africa has had a policy of competitive tendering for the provision of public transport services (subsidised commuter bus services) since the mid-1980s. Although this policy approach was conceptualised by the previous government, prior to the transfer of political power in 1994, it was reaffirmed in a 1996 White Paper on National Transport Policy. Despite the nearly 25 years that have passed since the intention to tender services, only about 32% of the subsidy budget is currently spent on some form of contracting. The majority of services are still operated on authorisations (interim contracts) which formalised services that operators were operating pre-1994. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the reasons why public transport contracting policy progress has been so slow in South Africa. The paper relies on an extensive study that was conducted regarding policy implementation obstacles in general, as well as a questionnaire survey among the subsidised commuter bus operators to solicit their views on the reasons for the delay in the implementation of the contracting system in the country. The findings of the survey indicate that the major issues hindering the implementation of the contracting system are to be found in a lack of funding, lack of capacity to implement policy and major operational issues in the permit offices.
Highlights
South Africa’s public transport policy in brief Public transport (PT) policy objectives in South Africa are mainly found in the White Paper on National Transport Policy of 1996 and ensuing legislation such as the National Land Transport Transition Act of 2000 (NLTTA) and the National Land Transport Act of 2009 that Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management | 2012 replaced the NLTTA
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE This paper aims to achieve two objectives: first, to summarise the main findings of a major study into public transport policy in South Africa undertaken in 2009; and secondly, to compare these findings with information gained from an industry survey among subsidised bus operators regarding their views on the slow implementation of the public transport contracting system in South Africa
As the Mitchell study only focused on the macro policy objectives, the second objective is to research the opinions of the major subsidised bus operators in South Africa to provide a more detailed overview of the strategic, tactical and operational issues that underpin the slow implementation of the contracting regimen in South Africa
Summary
South Africa’s public transport policy in brief Public transport (PT) policy objectives in South Africa are mainly found in the White Paper on National Transport Policy of 1996 and ensuing legislation such as the National Land Transport Transition Act of 2000 (NLTTA) and the National Land Transport Act of 2009 thatJournal of Transport and Supply Chain Management | 2012 replaced the NLTTA. In later years a number of strategy documents were developed in support of the overall policy objective of improving public transport services in South Africa (Department of Transport, 2007a; Department of Transport, 2007b). The White Paper on National Transport Policy of 1996 (Department of Transport, 1996) still remains valid, more than 15 years old, as the overall public transport policy objectives have not changed over this time. The White Paper on National Transport Policy did not make reference to commuter bus transport but dealt with it as part of the total passenger transport sector. The White Paper states an objective of ensuring sustainable and dedicated funding for passenger transport
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have