The Soccer confederation cup has come and gone South Africa was not disgraced on the field of play. We were pleasantly surprised by the performance of Bafana Bafana. They held their own against big names in international football. Off the field of play a lot of good things were said about our organization of the event. One of the major shortcomings related to the country’s transportation system. The FIFA President, Sepp Blatter gave us a seven and a half out of ten and transportation was one of the issues he raised as needing attention before the Soccer World Cup in 2010.
I think a major problem with our public transport system is that it is not client centered. This is a diagnosis that is based on my experience with taxis, trains the bus service.
There was once a bus service in Mbekweni as I was growing up but we later got to depend more on trains to move to other areas. I still can recall getting onto trains that were, sometimes, without windows in winter and very late. If one understands that the trains are almost every time full in the mornings, imagine the situation when a previous train did not arrive and people who were supposed to be passengers in two trains are squashed into one. The disappearance of busses in Mbekweni brought led to a phenomenal growth in the taxi industry. The less said about customer service in taxis the better. Trains and taxis remain the modes of transport for many without cars and thus a very limited choice.
The then Chairperson of Parliament’s transport portfolio committee Jeremy Cronin just last year referred to our public transport system as a “continued disaster”. Cronin, who is the current deputy Minister of Transport, told guests in the launch of the Mobility Magazine that “we don’t really have public transport in South Africa — we have commutes, commutes for people who don’t have any alternative. It is overcrowded typically, it’s under-resourced, it’s unreliable and, for those who have to use it, it’s typically very expensive.”
I sincerely believed that my car meant that I have avoided the public transport system until recently. I took my four year old son on an educational train ride from Mbekweni to Huguenot. He is a child who is born into a household that have an “alternative” through owning a car and thus seeing a train excited him. The train journey was ok until when we were supposed to catch one back from Huguenot station. We found that two access points to the station were locked and were forced to use one that was at the far end. Needles to say we could not catch the train and when I asked one of the ticket conductors why the other entrances were closed she told me that it is due to a shortage of staff for a team that is supposed to man these other entrances. I felt that the people who were responsible for the trains did not have customers at the center of their operations. The inconvenience that they were causing to passengers was not uppermost in their planning. As for me and my son, we had to drag Memory Pikinini away from his busy schedule to drive us to Mbekweni as the taxis next to the station looked deserted. I was also informed that the Wellington taxis were not going to take and drop me on the road pass Mbekweni because of an agreement they have with the Mbekweni taxi drivers (where is the competition commission when you need them?)
There is the major issue of safety on trains. A young man who was my neighbor in Mbekweni and a capable long distance athlete had his leg amputated because he was thrown out of a moving train by criminals.
One hopes that now that Mr Cronin is the deputy Minister of Transport he will start dealing with the shortcomings that he himself has identified. He must take it upon himself to ensure that we do have a public transport system that can impress FIFA and many others who are coming to the 2010 soccer extravaganza. South Africans also deserve a public transport system that is planned with them in mind beyond 2010.
I think a major problem with our public transport system is that it is not client centered. This is a diagnosis that is based on my experience with taxis, trains the bus service.
There was once a bus service in Mbekweni as I was growing up but we later got to depend more on trains to move to other areas. I still can recall getting onto trains that were, sometimes, without windows in winter and very late. If one understands that the trains are almost every time full in the mornings, imagine the situation when a previous train did not arrive and people who were supposed to be passengers in two trains are squashed into one. The disappearance of busses in Mbekweni brought led to a phenomenal growth in the taxi industry. The less said about customer service in taxis the better. Trains and taxis remain the modes of transport for many without cars and thus a very limited choice.
The then Chairperson of Parliament’s transport portfolio committee Jeremy Cronin just last year referred to our public transport system as a “continued disaster”. Cronin, who is the current deputy Minister of Transport, told guests in the launch of the Mobility Magazine that “we don’t really have public transport in South Africa — we have commutes, commutes for people who don’t have any alternative. It is overcrowded typically, it’s under-resourced, it’s unreliable and, for those who have to use it, it’s typically very expensive.”
I sincerely believed that my car meant that I have avoided the public transport system until recently. I took my four year old son on an educational train ride from Mbekweni to Huguenot. He is a child who is born into a household that have an “alternative” through owning a car and thus seeing a train excited him. The train journey was ok until when we were supposed to catch one back from Huguenot station. We found that two access points to the station were locked and were forced to use one that was at the far end. Needles to say we could not catch the train and when I asked one of the ticket conductors why the other entrances were closed she told me that it is due to a shortage of staff for a team that is supposed to man these other entrances. I felt that the people who were responsible for the trains did not have customers at the center of their operations. The inconvenience that they were causing to passengers was not uppermost in their planning. As for me and my son, we had to drag Memory Pikinini away from his busy schedule to drive us to Mbekweni as the taxis next to the station looked deserted. I was also informed that the Wellington taxis were not going to take and drop me on the road pass Mbekweni because of an agreement they have with the Mbekweni taxi drivers (where is the competition commission when you need them?)
There is the major issue of safety on trains. A young man who was my neighbor in Mbekweni and a capable long distance athlete had his leg amputated because he was thrown out of a moving train by criminals.
One hopes that now that Mr Cronin is the deputy Minister of Transport he will start dealing with the shortcomings that he himself has identified. He must take it upon himself to ensure that we do have a public transport system that can impress FIFA and many others who are coming to the 2010 soccer extravaganza. South Africans also deserve a public transport system that is planned with them in mind beyond 2010.
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