The effectiveness of land public passenger transport in the Johannesburg metropolitan area : a particular emphasis to bus passenger pubic transport customer service delivery excellence perspective.

Abstract

The South African Public Transport System plays an important role in the development of the economy in the country and in the region as a whole. Without an effective and efficient public transport system, the country's economic status would not improve. Classical macroeconomic theory suggests that transport is one of several key preconditions for economic growth. Transport is an industry in itself and employs many people. The Government has developed policies to regulate passenger transport in South Africa and in particular Johannesburg. There are national and provincial regulations that have been enacted by the national and provincial government. These are National Land Transport Transition Act, Gauteng Transport Infrastructure Act, Gauteng Public Passenger Transport Act and Moving South Africa Strategy. It was recognised in MSA that Metropolitan transport is clearly one of areas where crisis is looming. It is more and more difficult to move. Buses have lost clients to taxis. There seems to be consensus that the car is the only right choice for most citizens. The problem highlighted was that the public transport model is not working. Present urban transport strategy is based on short-term optimisation and it ignores the long-term effect of a poor urban transport-land mix. The secondary research seems to suggest that South African passenger bus transport in ineffective and inefficient. The research problem was subsequently stated to show that public transport in Johannesburg in ineffective because bus passenger transport model leads to dissatisfied passengers. Furthermore, the model is ineffective because of the past inequalities that led to poor transport infrastructure. This was found not to be true through primary research. The results showed that passengers were satisfied with the bus passenger transport in the Metropolitan areas of Johannesburg. Furthermore, it was found that indeed the poor infrastructure due to past inequalities has affected passenger transport service delivery. Overall, the passengers were satisfied with the bus transport model applied irrespective of where these passengers lived. It was then concluded that the bus passenger transport is effective. Operators have to be cautious of the fact that it is crucial to adopt a customer-focussed service approach as this will lead to satisfied passengers. The MSA strategy of the department of transport is heading in the right direction. It identifies the need for putting customers first. The strategy proposed a future core transport system that is high volume, high frequency corridors in which public transport will be a priority. Customer's need for improved access and short trip times will be met by having regular feeder services to the high volume corridors, user-friendly transfer facilities, short wait times due to high corridor frequencies and the possibility of differentiated services for customers with specific needs. The passengers transport strategy is moving from commuter-based modal transport to customer-based public transport there will be densification of transport corridors, optimal deployment of modes to meet customer service requirements and improving operators' level performance.