Abstract:
Detailed transport networks providing distance or time measurements are a common way
to measure levels of spatial accessibility. An often-overlooked matter is that using a single
transport network does not consider how different portions of the population may depend
on different modes of transportation. This means the actual accessibility of facilities would
be overestimated since one would assume commuters travelling with a private vehicle in
cities within developing countries like South Africa would take less time and have greater
access to facilities than those using public transportation. A matter to consider is that most
accessibility analyses have not focused on classifying the population based on the mode
of transport that they would mostly depend on. A tool developed by the CSIR to determine
spatial accessibility was used to illustrate this. This research thesis compares the spatial
accessibility of social facilities based on different modes of transportation (private vehicle;
bus; rail and taxi). An impedance unit was applied to each of the modes of transport
reflecting how far one may have to travel from their origin to reach the nearest node or
stop. It was found that there is a significant disparity in terms of the spatial accessibility of
certain social facilities for the estimated population in the City of Tshwane. A much larger
proportion of Tshwane’s population has access to the facilities included in the research if
they have access to private transportation as compared to public transport services.
Subsequently, suggestions were made to address the matter at hand, including the
extension of the public transport networks, the establishment of more social facilities or the
relaxation of the standards used to determine how far is reasonable for residents to travel
to reach their nearest facility.
