SUCCESSFUL BRT NEEDS URGENT ACTION

(My letter in the Pretoria News of Thursday 4 August)

Recent fuel shortages caused by a labour dispute in the energy industry caused panic among motorists and forced us to assess our ability to be mobile. It also highlighted the need for adequate public transport.
Fewer than a third of South Africans own private vehicles, a fact successive governments have seemingly forgotten.
History is not on the side of our public transport dispensation. The apartheid legacy left us with a city that favoured a privileged group who took full advantage of separate development by settling in suburbs near their places of work.
Our challenge is to undo apartheid’s legacy, rethink spatial development and city planning and to introduce a viable and sustainable public transport system that will support economic development. A public-transport system serving commuters across cultural boundaries will go a long way in fostering social cohesion.
I foresee the key mode of urban transport to be an efficient, flexible and reliable bus service supported by a bus rapid transport (BRT) system.
The National Department of Transport, among others, has proposed developing an overarching strategic transport plan for the Tshwane Metro> This would compare bus, BRT, rail and private transport requirements in the city and determine the sphere of operations for each.
There is also much unfinished business. Where is the Hammanskraal rail link, discussed for more than five years? Where is the Metrorail (now Prasa) upgrade promised to the metros many years ago?
A deteriorating bus service hampers The Tshwane Metro’s ability to provide a reliable public –transport service to city commuters. This directly affects pensioners, disabled persons, scholars and people without private transport. Bus services are limited and unreliable. The service runs the risk of losing its clientele because many commuters choose alternative means of transport such as taxis. Punitively high bus fares in the past financial year nudged even more commuters towards other forms of transport.
The bus service deteriorated over the past years due to labour disputes, poor management, inadequate maintenance, a misguided service delivery culture and lack of political will to assure a public-transport service.
The envisaged BRT system will require even more careful planning, extended negotiation with the taxi industry and adequate capital support. But Tshwane’s progress is way behind schedule. The BRT system may never materialize unless the correct steps are taken urgently, supported by the political will to make it succeed.

Too much time has been lost and we must decide whether we have the right people to do the job.