A new approach to sustainable transport system : a critical appraisal of the Rapid Bus Transit System (BRT) in South Africa

Public transport should be considered in the urban context as a good supportive infrastructure for public space. This can be considered based on the World Bank report of 1986 which considered public transport as the most efficient means of moving large numbers of people, especially in dense areas. Bus services; in particular provide considerable flexibility in meeting demands for transport at various levels of quality and quantity. One of the legacies of apartheid is the lack of connectivity between the so called “Townships” and the “Suburbs”. Most residents commuting from the township to the city not only spend a huge amount of money to and from work. This impact greatly on their productivity as they get tired by the time they get to their places of work. To combat congestion and provide better public transport in the face of this concern the City of Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Metro introduced the Rea Vaya BRT (Rapid Bus Transit system). This is a public transport infrastructure that is being used in developing countries with similar history like South Africa. The buses will run in exclusive, dedicated lanes in the centre of existing roads. Smaller feeder buses will bring people from the outer areas to the station on the trunk routes. The buses are of 75 or 112 capacity depending on passenger volumes and will operate in about 150 stations positioned half a kilometer apart to run every three minutes in peak times and every 10 minutes in off peak times from 5am to 12 midnight. Since the commencement of this public transport system the operators has witnessed stiff resistance and violent crashes with existing taxi operators. In this study we look at the viability of the BRT in terms of obtain a buy-in from existing operators. The research will question the sustainability of this rapid bus transport system in relation to Security, Affordability and travel time saving. The use of South Africa in this study is because this is the first time the Department of Transport is rolling out this system of Integrated Transport Plan which is backed with Strategic Public Transport Network