Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Short-term measures to improve public transport in Gauteng, including increasing the bus, taxi and train fleets, are on the cards, Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele said on Thursday.
"While we accept that solving our public transport system will take many years, I would like us to find short-term remedial measures which will improve the situation," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at a transport gathering in Cape Town.
Critics have bemoaned the public transport system which Ndebele was earlier quoted as saying should be used if residents did not like the tolls.
The toll tariffs were suspended, Ndebele announced on Tuesday, following a meeting with Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane.
Ndebele on Thursday said he and Mokonyane agreed that short-term solutions were needed to improve public transport in the province.
"We needed to find short-term solutions which could include the following remedial solutions: increasing the fleet of buses, taxis and coaches on some of the critical routes; developing an agreed upon business compact between taxi, bus and rail operators to ensure co-ordination; improve our commuter information systems; and any other possible remedial measures," he said.
These interventions would be linked to talks around the tolling process and the launch of the Gautrain commuter routes and feeder system later this year.
Ndebele said a steering committee had to be set up to drive the process.
National, provincial and local government had to be represented on the steering committee as well as the SA National Roads Agency, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, Gautrain management, taxi organisations, organised labour and organised business commuter organisations.
"The transformation of our public transport system has become our most urgent task. The problem of public transport confronting us today might very well have emerged long before us. However, for the solutions we no longer have the luxury to defer resolving them."
He said the issues surrounding public transport in Gauteng dated back to 2006.
The task team established by the national and provincial government on the toll tariffs had to report back by the end of March.
"While we accept that solving our public transport system will take many years, I would like us to find short-term remedial measures which will improve the situation," he said in a speech prepared for delivery at a transport gathering in Cape Town.
Critics have bemoaned the public transport system which Ndebele was earlier quoted as saying should be used if residents did not like the tolls.
The toll tariffs were suspended, Ndebele announced on Tuesday, following a meeting with Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane.
Ndebele on Thursday said he and Mokonyane agreed that short-term solutions were needed to improve public transport in the province.
"We needed to find short-term solutions which could include the following remedial solutions: increasing the fleet of buses, taxis and coaches on some of the critical routes; developing an agreed upon business compact between taxi, bus and rail operators to ensure co-ordination; improve our commuter information systems; and any other possible remedial measures," he said.
These interventions would be linked to talks around the tolling process and the launch of the Gautrain commuter routes and feeder system later this year.
Ndebele said a steering committee had to be set up to drive the process.
National, provincial and local government had to be represented on the steering committee as well as the SA National Roads Agency, the Passenger Rail Agency of SA, Gautrain management, taxi organisations, organised labour and organised business commuter organisations.
"The transformation of our public transport system has become our most urgent task. The problem of public transport confronting us today might very well have emerged long before us. However, for the solutions we no longer have the luxury to defer resolving them."
He said the issues surrounding public transport in Gauteng dated back to 2006.
The task team established by the national and provincial government on the toll tariffs had to report back by the end of March.
