Urban planning and public transportation:an historical overview of South Africa

Abstract

Urban and transport planning policy and legislation documents play a critical role in determining successful public transportation in African towns and cities. This paper follows a historical approach in examining the role of Urban and Transportation Planning documents in South Africa on Public Transportation from the year 1994 to 2020. The paper also has a narrow focus on Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality (MMM). We followed a qualitative desktop research to understand how public transportation in particular, Minibus Taxi Industry (MTI) has been incorporated in urban planning documents, and the impact of legislation, policies and Acts over the years on public transportation. We identified urban planning and transportation planning and policy documents between 1994 and 2020 to identify the changes over the years and the impact on transport planning approaches, specifically public transportation. During the 25 years, changes in legislation, policies and Acts have influenced Public Transportation Planning approaches. While previous legislation, policies and Acts have brought public transportation where it is today, some of these approaches have caused challenges in the public transport sector. The challenges have led to a shift in transportation planning approaches, focusing more on spatial inequality, social injustice, connectivity of urban areas and the promotion of specific transportation modes. We conclude that, there appears to be a change in course, with legislations and plans moving away from the "displace and replace" approach and rather embracing and engaging with the MTI. This in part is because, a large part of South Africa's population will inevitably continue to use minibus taxi services.