Key Components Strategies Aim Promote Integration Land Public Transport Developments South African Context

South Africa's Public Transportation Needs

Among the most developed and visited nations on the African continent, South Africa offers a number of options for domestic transportation. Offering an array of 567 airports, with 9 international airports, as well as a railway system that the CIA World Factbook identifies as 14th largest in the world, South Africa's public transportation system is comparatively modern within the scope of the continent. However, it is also the case that a number of strategic land use improvements are needed in order to produce a more refined and dynamic transportation system.

Airports:

According to Move, Inc. (2012), South Africa's newly opened Johannesburg International Airport has helped to increase the nations air travel capabilities by increasing the city's service capacity by 18 million passengers annually. However, today, the CIA World Factbook reports, more than three-quarters of all runways in South Africa remain unpaved. With R1 billion committed by the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA), this is one dimension of public transportation that will emphasize improving passenger service capacity. This will accommodate a valuable and thriving tourism and business travel industry.

Rails:

An additional R1 billion have been invested by Spoornet to improve the speed, punctuality, efficiency and cleanliness of rail cars running on the Transnet network. The decidedly low cost of the freight and passenger services on the state-run rail network must now be matched by improved consistency and quality of service.

Roads:

The biggest challenge to South Africa is this component of its public transportation strategy. Much attention has been cast on the fact that South Africa's highways are unsafe on several different levels. The first and foremost is the need for improved and ongoing maintenance of road conditions, road signs, barriers and other traffic constructions designed to maintained orderly use of the roads.

But beyond that, an article in BBC News (1999) reports, "Paul Swart, a spokesman for the opposition Democratic Party, called for improved policing, more frequent roadworthy tests and limiting the number of hours bus drivers spend at the wheel." These recommendations would be highlighted by a high number of bus accidents and subsequent fatalities. These would demonstrate the need for more traffic safety officers on the road. Lax enforcement of traffic safety rules leads to unsafe driving and, in the case of the bus drivers that are essential to South Africa's public transportation landscape, also leads to inappropriately long hours behind the wheel. Tired bus drivers represent a danger to everybody on the road.