Business intelligence in South African government - subsidised bus companies

Abstract

Paper presented at the 28th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 6 - 9 July 2009 "Sustainable Transport", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

Worldwide bus transit is the most common mode of public transport. The South African bus industry has evolved over decades from the tariff system to the current tender system. Subsidies from government are necessary for sustainability in the bus industry. This subsidy can make or break public bus companies. An area in the subsidised bus transport industry that must be continuously monitored is the area surrounding trip activity because it can decrease the subsidy received from government. Therefore, delivering information on this aspect in a meaningful manner is crucial for survival. The current operational systems and ad hoc reports, amongst others, systematically supply information but it is a time consuming and error prone process. They also do not supply strategic information. Although a literature study has shown that Business lntelligence has been applied successfully in certain sectors of the transport industry, the situation in subsidised bus companies in South Africa is still unknown. This study, therefore, examined the overall current state of Business lntelligence among subsidised bus companies. The findings were that there is a total lack of Business Intelligence implementations in these companies and that these companies have a very poor perception of what Business lntelligence can do for them.