TRL4862
The travail of travelling’: urban transport in South Africa, 1930–1996
- For some two million Africans who commute to and from work during peak- hour
periods, transport has imposed heavy penaltes and the African workers had to make
incredible sacrifces during their journeys Some travel for up to 300 kilometres daily.
In tme transport became a site of popular struggles and a dramatc expression of
tensions and disputes over control, management and afordability of racially divided
spaces
Passenger transport in South Africa
Transport is both an essental part of the economy and an important element in the quality
of everyday life. The separaton of place of residence and place of work under capitalism has
been aggravated in South Africa by the race-zoning policies enshrined in the Natve (Urban)
Areas Act 1923 and the Group Areas Act 1950. Transport issues are potental fashpoints for
the frustratons of the majority of the African working class. Africans have their immediate
origin in the low wages, poor working conditons and lack of efectve representaton in
transport companies and state transport insttutons Untl recently, racially segregated
transport conjured up images of diference and subordinaton and transport was an
instrument of marginalizaton and dominaton of the African people
Local transport conditons, such as the infrequency, inadequacy, poor maintenance,
overcrowding, unsheltered terminuses, rude staf and increasing cost of public bus and train
services have sparked of popular protests
There are three popular modes of urban transport in South Africa: buses, minibus taxis
and trains.
- The control of bus services is exercised at central Government level by the
Department of Transport (DoT) through Local Road Transportaton Boards (LRTBs),
which grant operatng permits and approve fares and transport service levels. The
overall transport policy has been the responsibility of the DoT, one of its most
signifcant policy instruments being the subsidizaton of bus transport through
passenger subsidies
- Operaton of minibus taxis was restricted by the apartheid state
- Minibus taxis have a carrying capacity of between 8 and 15 passengers. Since the
1980s, the number of minibus taxis has grown to some 130 000 minibus taxis in
South Africa in 1996. Of this number, some 60 000 are licensed and the rest operate
without any legal status
- The rail network in South Africa falls under the control of Transnet as well as the
South African Rail Commuter Corporaton (SARCC)
The travail of travelling’: urban transport in South Africa, 1930–1996
- For some two million Africans who commute to and from work during peak- hour
periods, transport has imposed heavy penaltes and the African workers had to make
incredible sacrifces during their journeys Some travel for up to 300 kilometres daily.
In tme transport became a site of popular struggles and a dramatc expression of
tensions and disputes over control, management and afordability of racially divided
spaces
Passenger transport in South Africa
Transport is both an essental part of the economy and an important element in the quality
of everyday life. The separaton of place of residence and place of work under capitalism has
been aggravated in South Africa by the race-zoning policies enshrined in the Natve (Urban)
Areas Act 1923 and the Group Areas Act 1950. Transport issues are potental fashpoints for
the frustratons of the majority of the African working class. Africans have their immediate
origin in the low wages, poor working conditons and lack of efectve representaton in
transport companies and state transport insttutons Untl recently, racially segregated
transport conjured up images of diference and subordinaton and transport was an
instrument of marginalizaton and dominaton of the African people
Local transport conditons, such as the infrequency, inadequacy, poor maintenance,
overcrowding, unsheltered terminuses, rude staf and increasing cost of public bus and train
services have sparked of popular protests
There are three popular modes of urban transport in South Africa: buses, minibus taxis
and trains.
- The control of bus services is exercised at central Government level by the
Department of Transport (DoT) through Local Road Transportaton Boards (LRTBs),
which grant operatng permits and approve fares and transport service levels. The
overall transport policy has been the responsibility of the DoT, one of its most
signifcant policy instruments being the subsidizaton of bus transport through
passenger subsidies
- Operaton of minibus taxis was restricted by the apartheid state
- Minibus taxis have a carrying capacity of between 8 and 15 passengers. Since the
1980s, the number of minibus taxis has grown to some 130 000 minibus taxis in
South Africa in 1996. Of this number, some 60 000 are licensed and the rest operate
without any legal status
- The rail network in South Africa falls under the control of Transnet as well as the
South African Rail Commuter Corporaton (SARCC)
