If you need to get from Newtown to Hillbrow, Alex, Sandton and back to Newtown again, you only need about R70 and must be willing to use taxis, buses, trains, tuk-tuks and sometimes, your feet.
Although travelling by public transport is a daily reality for millions of South Africans in Joburg, thousands of cars still litter the roads.
During the City of Johannesburg’s Transport Month initiative called Kasi to Kasi, on 20 October, each member of a participating group was given R100 to get to certain landmarks across Joburg.
Each team had about three hours to complete the challenge.
Although most South Africans are accustomed to using various forms of public transport, others experience driving in a minibus taxi and taking the Gautrain for the first time.
About to head to Hillbrow in a taxi from Bree for the first time #joburgOTM2017, cost R8 @NewsNMT @CityofJoburgZA pic.twitter.com/ZRFmc21Pgc
— Cllr Chantelle Fourie-Shawe (@cfshawe) October 20, 2017
For Abram Ngulube, who takes a taxi every day from Ellis Park to Orange Grove for R40 a day, this is also a daily part of life.
Although he finds it convenient to use a taxi, he is often concerned about the condition some of them are in. He said that when it rains, water often comes through the roof and drips onto the passengers.
Even for some drivers, driving passengers through traffic and dangerous areas is a reality. Nelson Baloyi, who has been a taxi driver for 10 years, says although he does get decent money for it, he still does it only to get paid.
His job can also be dangerous, with taxi violence often spurring when drivers overstep others’ territories, or rather, routes. Nevertheless, he drives hundreds of passengers to and from where they need to be every day.
The City of Johannesburg’s MMC for Transport, Nonhlanhla Makhuba, also joined the challenge with her own team. She said this day was an attempt to promote the use of public transport.
Every team later briefed the MMC on their experiences. This would ultimately add to the overall analysis of the public transport network in Joburg.
“We encourage motorists to start thinking about using public transport,” Makhuba said. “We know it can be more comfortable in your car, but you can skip traffic and relax when you use public transport like Rea Vaya.”
Roger McCulloch, the strategic adviser to the MMC, said the department knows there are still improvements to be made.
“We were made aware of a lot of issues that need to be dealt with. Things like scheduling and the availability of information at stations are some of the frustrations we experience,” McCulloch said.
He said the goal is to make using public transport comfortable, convenient and reliable for motorists so they ultimately use public transport instead.
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