Towards a more sustainable integrated public transport network

Abstract

The need to improve public transport (PT) across South Africa is unquestioned. However, the Integrated Rapid Public Transport Network (IRPTN) approach promoted in the main centres has proven to be expensive and in fact, difficult to implement, with only a few cities having made significant and sustained inroads into service delivery. A key problem has been the attempt to completely replace other existing road-based PT modes with universally accessible Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Universal access (UA) is a noble goal but should not dominate to the extent that it diminishes the usefulness of the services delivered. We argue that there are alternative models that can guarantee regular, scheduled, universally accessible services at a much-reduced cost. In our view, “integrated”, means multiple modes, including minibus-taxi (MBT), conventional bus, BRT, and rail, working together with some coherence, and basic arithmetic will establish that the optimum mode for a route depends on the level of demand over a sustained distance. BRT is a medium capacity, medium speed road-based mode which operates in dedicated right-of-way and offers little travel time advantage in the off-peaks when there is little or no demand, and general traffic congestion is reduced. This then begs the question of the insistence of trying to provide the full system capacity in the peaks with BRT. A better approach may be to provide a level of BRT type service throughout the day that is adequate for around the average weekday off-peak demand levels. This ensures universally accessible, scheduled services, providing peak capacity, and a competitive peak period speed advantage. The remaining required capacity is then provided by other existing modes. Using this model, as much as 70% of a full week’s passenger demand (i.e. Monday to Sunday) can be accommodated with the fleet required to satisfy between 20% and 40% of the weekday morning peak demand. Conventional buses can conditionally use the bus lanes, but not stations. Other measures to reduce the cost of BRT systems and improve the integration of modes include the use of lower cost modular stations and the transition to an accounted-based ticketing system, which facilitates the principle of “bring your own device” or BYOD. Savings can then be used to expand coverage instead of being wasted on unused capacity in off-peak periods.