A call for collaboration in Gauteng’s transport
Buses, trains and taxis form part of a system that has to work for commuters
Increasing pressure to bring order to a public transport system presently failing the South African citizens who are dependent on it has led to the Gauteng Provincial Legislature Committee for Roads and Transport opening multi-level areas of enquiry into implementing collaboration between taxi, bus and train service providers.
“The economic cost of poor public transport is huge,” says Jacob Khawe, chairperson of the committee.
“The basic objective is to make a call to all relevant stakeholders to get public transport in order so that everybody involved [in] public taxis, buses and trains, work among themselves towards improvement and collaborate with each other for the betterment of the commuting citizen.
“The work we have done as a committee has revealed the extent to which public transport is failing and how and where. Of huge concern is losing jobs over late arrival to work, losing relationships through lengthy and difficult commuting times and job seekers being late for their interviews. Communities lose jobs and economic opportunities.
“I also clearly recall the stories where children arrive late during their matric exams — which are highly regulated. If they are not seated 15 minutes before their exam, they cannot write and late arrivals are not accepted.
“Crime is a major issue encompassing not just passenger safety but also the theft of cables and vandalism of infrastructure, and service delivery protests — often resulting in vandalism of property, which has financial implications for Prasa and subsidised bus contractors.”
Khawe says his committee has been highly proactive and has taken such measures as unannounced visits by committee members, who go and see members of communities. They have also taken morning train rides from Westonaria or Germiston to Johannesburg — both on weekdays and on Saturdays.
Daily grievances
Transport committee members have also been to various bus stops in Hammanskraal and Soshanguve, as well as to taxi ranks, taking taxis with drivers completely unaware of who they are transporting.
There has been a full committee enquiry into taxi permits, licensing and the issues prompting violence against different associations. A focused intervention study was conducted to look at the whole bus subsidy in the province, including the bus rapid transit systems newly introduced by metropolitan municipalities, and with focus placed on the public transport operations grant (PTOG).
This strategy was also supported by the daily grievances that the committee continues to receive from bus commuter organisations, which also necessitated an intervention study to resolve the reported challenges.
“The [focused intervention study] is a forecast study on a particular matter and in doing the study on bus subsidies we look at how much of a grant is given to who, how many buses should be available in a fleet and how many buses are actually on the road. In Soshonguve, for example, Putco is supposed to have 152 buses but they only have 123 — leaving 27 not running daily that they are contractually bound to have,” continued Khawe.
“Other challenges included the National Land Transport Act (NLTA) and the lack of finalisation of integrated public transport networks by municipalities. This was supported by the extension of subsidised bus contracts on an ad hoc basis, the lack of institutionalisation of the NLTA which recognises municipalities as contracting authorities, insufficient PTOGs to fund all provincial routes and lack of subsidised bus service in the West Rand.
“The committee insists that the department of transport must continue to ensure that the municipalities finalise their IPTNs in line with the 25-year Gauteng Integrated Transport Master Plan.”
Establishing order
“Order means that buses, trains, service delivery, late arrival and crime are dealt with. Order means reduced levels of crime and increased visible policing for the people.
“Order means resolving taxi disputes, addressing poor driver behaviour and presenting a quality transport business.
“Citizens must be given quality buses — buses that don’t get stuck. We have to reduce high levels of cable theft which impact on the reliability of trains. We have to get public transport in order because so many commuters have raised its negative side, which is going to be the result of thorough work.”
Khawe says that at the recent Rail Summit, all stakeholders were invited. “All that work has given us sufficient evidence to give us a call to order in transport. There are decisions and recommendations we have and we want to use the media platform to call across all stakeholders to get their houses in order.
“We see ourselves as leadership for the province and legislature and as representatives of the people of Gauteng, and speaking to everybody from that stance so other representatives of the people may be convinced that it is high time we get things in order.
“We are not blaming or presenting a report attacking one stakeholder. It is a plea that identifies the problems.
“As a country we must also increase the number of CCTV cameras and everyone needs to know they are being watched by someone, which also means increasing IT systems. This will also help commuters who can prove why they were late for work when the boss wants to fire them.
“Then there is the vital issue of cameras being linked to police stations and visible policing. They should not just drive around but walk. Be in the stations and on the trains and in the taxi ranks. Public spaces need police visibility. Plus, we are saying to the justice department that cable theft should not be treated like the theft of a chocolate. It directly affects the economy, preventing it from growing.
“The committee will not stop representing our communities. Every person on the road, we represent them. We call upon all bus and taxi drivers to be good drivers because they know their passengers are mothers and fathers and if they die they have collapsed entire families. It s a call to do your part.”
Terrifying taxis
Just looking at the daily commute on the N1 and the behaviour of the taxis makes it clear that solving this level of lawlessness is a massive task. This behaviour also demonstrates another very telling factor that leads to violence — the issue of drivermetro police collaboration, a very real problem where some drivers feel victimised.
Part of the taxi problem investigated by the committee is that of police officers who own taxis, which so far resulted in 60 cases investigated by police, of which 30 were cleared.
“One officer has resigned as he owns five taxis and makes more money with them than in the uniform,” says Khawe. “This gap is not closed but this also an economic and legislative issue.”
Khawe says that “gentlemen’s agreements” are another issue leading to violence where associations reach an agreement for instance on routes. When there is a change of leadership these agreements end and the violence starts all over again between associations.
“Then another organisation comes in and questions why they are sharing permits,” says Khawe. “Some don’t get resolved peacefully and the real fact is that some chairpersons are killed.
“There are the two issues of permits or routes, with allegations of high levels of corruption in issuing permits for routes where someone has a similar permit to another driver and the question is how. Case in point is the Midrand Mall of Africa. Then there are others with similar A point and B point routes where there is also conflict.
“The third point is inefficiency. Over-the-counter permits take 30 days to process. This is pure inefficiency and not corruption, but during that period taxis on the road must be impounded and then we get disorder, blocked roads and violence.
“We see taxis as a black-dominated business that can survive but won’t if we do not deal with these issues. We know who the bad people are, but in this industry they simply do not want truth. We get accused of finger-pointing and we know who is saying this, but nothing is happening.
“We want and need order. We want the issuance of taxi routes and permits done efficiently and effectively. The old IT infrastructure with a system down for days needs to be fixed,” he stressed.
“We know what the problems are and hence we say to everybody who is involved, be they bus, taxi or train, the private sector, the police, Prasa, everybody, hold a strategy session and look at your roles and play your part. We know for a fact we have unroadworthy buses and taxis. Do not hide this, but fix it! This will say to your communities that you are protecting them — your assets,” said Khawe.