Accessibility of Public Transport - with Focus on Access, Egress and the Line Haul Travel Time

Abstract

Equity in access to opportunities is increasingly recognised as an essential component of sustainable development and transport. In South Africa most commuters live far from their workplaces, which makes their travel expensive with most spending 15 to 30% of their disposal income on transport (NHTS, 2013). These low income transport users are subjected to ever-increasing fares and long commuting hours using public transport. Public transport as primary line haul mode, with walking and cycling as feeder and distributor play a prominent role in sustainable urban mobility. The study seeks to measure the level of public transport accessibility for commuters and focus on access and egress within the metropolitan areas. In order to prepare for the research, a review analysis of the National House Travel Survey 2013 was undertaken through the use of SPSS statistical analysis software. The reality remains that the working population still travel long distances to their workplaces and spend much of their disposable income on transport. On average metropolitan working population spends 55 minutes per trip commuting to work, this includes access, egress, waiting and line haul time. The results show that train users spend more time travelling than any of the other modes.