Disruptive transport technologies: is South and Southern Africa ready?

Abstract

E-hailing services have been arguably labelled as a disruptive transport technology, if assessed relative to certain role-players and aspects in the transport sector. Compared to private vehicle use and ownership, it has gained a foothold in the low-end market and established a completely new market of previous non-public transport users, which might encourage current and potential vehicle owners to sell or halt a purchase of a vehicle. This paper examines the extent to which e-hailing services may reduce vehicle ownership in South Africa. The analysis indicated that for each road user, using a specific vehicle travelling a predefined distance per year, there is a travelling distance threshold which if exceeded makes financially more sense to keep using their vehicle or sell and make use of e-hailing services if this threshold kilometres is not achieved. The paper finds that South African cities are spatially challenged, and it is not envisaged that e-hailing services will have a profound impact on vehicle ownership in South Africa in the short to medium term.