Transport challenges to the small trader - is public transport the answer ?

Abstract

Paper presented at the 20th Annual South African Transport Conference 16 - 20 July 2001 "Meeting the transport challenges in Southern Africa", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa. ABSTRACT: There are numerous popular misconceptions of public transport in South Africa – particularly amongst those people who are habitual car users. Even the “enlightened ” transport planners are not necessarily aware of the far-reaching and significant effects that public transport has on a large proportion of the population. The role of public transport in accommodating the daily needs of commuters may be quite widely appreciated and its role in meeting the needs of interurban travellers perhaps somewhat less so. What is not so apparent is the role that public transport plays in small-scale trade and manufacturing at a local and also at a national level. This paper brings together the findings from several recent research projects that were carried out in KwaZulu-Natal with the general objective of assessing the impact of transport on small businesses. Although these research projects are of a preliminary nature, they clearly demonstrate the high level of dependence of many small businesses on public transport. These projects also suggest a possible economic opportunity for public transport itself. In this regard, under-utilisation of public transport combined with the problem of over-trading in the minibus-taxi industry presents an opportunity to expand its usage and its market base to the mutual advantage of the traders and the transport operators. This is seen to be particularly important for small business development in general because it faces stunting at best and failure at worst unless certain shortcomings in the provision of transport are dealt with. The financial support given for this investigation by the National Department of Transport -through its "Centres of Transport Development"scheme -is gratefully acknowledged.