The city council has spent billions of rand on the Rea Vaya (Bus Rapid Transport) system, the Gautrain, dual fuel powered Metro buses, and facilitating non-motorised transport to promote public transportation.
According to Executive Mayor Parks Tau, the city of Johannesburg wants to reduce dependence on private transport, thus reducing carbon emissions.
Additionally, Tau said, the city planned to use public transport to “re-stitch the city”, bringing people closer to facilities and economic opportunities.
Reduced fares for some categories of Rea Vaya users and new routes for both the Rea Vaya and Metro buses had been introduced to make these modes of transport more affordable and accessible.
However, MMC for Transport Christine Walters said despite the public transport infrastructure being available, there remained an even split between people using public and private transport.
While there was a steady use of public transport, getting motorists to opt for public transport over private transport remained a challenge.
There needed to be a paradigm shift and the city needed to determine why there was a lack of confidence in public transport, Walters said.
According to Walters, Johannesburg was “extremely car-based” and 78 percent of the city’s 3.8 million drivers are stuck in traffic daily.
Walters explained that there were many misconceptions about public transport, which impacted people’s choices to use these systems, adding that South Africans enjoyed their comforts and liked quick transit.
She said the legacy of infrastructure investment backlogs also posed a challenge.
“Eighty percent of the city’s road network, especially the pavement structure, is over 20 years old,” she said.
Furthermore, 56 Metro buses were beyond repair and 90 buses failed to work at any given time, resulting in about 9 937 trips being cancelled.
She added that the safety and reliability of public transport remained a concern with local government needing to implement, manage and control the public transport environment.
