2005-11-18,+Satawu+on+Public+Transport+Month

= Satawu statement on Public Transport and Transport Month =


 * Friday 14th October 2005**

The SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) welcomes the efforts by the Department of Transport, nationally and provincially, to encourage the general public to use public transport by pronouncing October “Transport month”.

However, Satawu is concerned that the department’s pronouncements are rhetorical and publicity seeking, rather than practical.

It is quite clear to Satawu that the appeal of Minister Radebe and his Transport MECs for more people to use public transport will fall on deaf ears as long as public transport remains under-funded and poorly co-ordinated. Commuters currently use public transport because they have no choice. The Department of Transport must take practical steps so that public transport becomes the mode of choice. For it to become the mode of choice it has to be frequent, reliable, direct, safe and affordable.

Currently it is none of these.

The first step in the road towards safety, reliability, frequency and affordability is a massive increase in government funding. Minister Radebe should use “Transport month” to demand a substantial increase in his budget. It is scandalous that not a single new subsidized bus route has been approved in the country for past seven years, despite massive urban growth. Entire new residential areas have been developed with no provision for bus services. It is also unacceptable that there are no plans in place to expand the Metrorail system, let alone improve its maintenance. Satawu has been demanding for some time that government puts in place an emergency investment plan for Metrorail. It is not good enough to argue that there will be improvements after the integration of Metrorail with SARCC. Integration is not going to resolve the fact that the rolling stock and infrastructure has not been properly funded.

The second step has got to be the urgent setting up of the Transport Planning Authorities in metros, as per legislation that has long been in place. Currently the absence of integrated transport planning is perpetuating competition between different modes along the same routes, rather than a situation where the modes complement each other.

Government should also scrap the bus tendering system once and for all. Rather than bringing the cost to government down, the tendering system has become more expensive to government, resulting in substantially fewer subsidized services being provided. It has also resulted in an attack on bus workers’ conditions of employment. As a consequence, trained workers are leaving the industry in droves, with consequences for safety.

In the taxi industry, government must urgently put measures into place to ensure the enforcement of recently legislated minimum wages and working conditions for taxi workers. In the absence of proper implementation of minimum wages, taxi workers remain driven to compete for passenger loads. This is not a recipe for safety.

Satawu also calls on government to urgently review the Gautrain project. Satawu has learnt that the burden on the central fiscus may be as high as R20bn. The project is therefore no longer a provincial matter. National government must take stock and ask itself if the Gautrain is going to make any serious and cost effective contribution to the expansion of public transport services.

Finally, Satawu is of the view that it is high time government reviewed its strategy of private provision of social services, including transport. The best public transport systems in the world are all owned by local, regional or national authorities. The sale of municipal and provincial bus services must be reversed.

Satawu understands that the privatization of public transport is driven by government’s macro economic GEAR policy. This policy must be reviewed.

In sum, Satawu believes that in order for public transport to become the mode of choice, government should :-


 * Provide proper funding for public transport. Expand subsidized bus services and make up the backlog in Metrorail funding.
 * Make integrated public transport planning a reality by urgently establishing the Transport Planning Authorities.
 * Scrap the bus tendering system and replace it with negotiated contracts with subsidized bus service providers.
 * Urgently review the wisdom of the Gautrain project from a public transport point of view.
 * Reverse the trend of privatizing of public transport, and review GEAR which has informed such privatisation.

For more call: Randall Howard 082 564 6298 Ronnie Mamba 082 646 5353

Jane Barrett Policy Research Officer and Acting Spoornet co-ordinator Satawu head office P O Box 9451 Johannesburg South Africa 2001 ph: +27 11 3336127 fax: +27 11 338918 email: jane@satawu.org.za