Tools to assist in determining business values of individual minibus-taxi operations in Rustenburg, North-West, South Africa

Abstract

A multi-phase municipal informal public transport survey was undertaken in the city of Rustenburg to collect public transport operational and business data of minibus taxi associations running their services within the municipal boundary. The methodology followed consisted of cordon counts coupled to onboard surveys. The onboard surveys were executed by means of the GoMetro Pro mapping application, a mobile application that enables field collectors to digitally map respective transport networks and operations. Operational data was captured over a full operating day by a representative sample of vehicles of the larger population on pre-determined days and periods of the month that were selected in collaboration with the taxi associations, to accurately reflect the monthly operations. The data collected formed part of an operations analysis of the existing minibus-taxi transport system for the spatial and business planning of the Rustenburg Rapid Transport (RRT) Yarona Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Revenue data and operational data per vehicle for a full day of operations was collected by the mobile application, repeated on selected days in a month. The data was inferred by post-processing of the data and applied to individual business models for each sampled minibus taxi, as representative drivers of a value in a system. The individual business models were extrapolated to the population as a representative sample of the population to determine the systems revenue and systems operations plan of an association.