Southern African solutions to public transport challenges

Abstract

The South African public transport industry is under immense scrutiny as captive users of these systems face unsafe, unreliable and costly systems. In the 21 years of the new dispensation, solutions to public transport challenges in South Africa need to be tackled contextually. The Southern African Transport Conference focuses on such a theme and essentially deliberates the tools needed to solve the incumbent issues that are present. The current challenges illustrate the disconnections that exist in public transport and how they affect all users of the road networks. The current solutions –in their response to the challenges- exemplify the approaches used to resolve public transport systems which are often well considered through the planning and implementation phase but again expose the disconnect that exists. In exploring South African solutions, the essay recommends a holistic approach in attempting to provide adequate, efficient and effective systems. A way to transform these systems to focus on the extreme user and how their implied costs of using public transport can be mitigated.