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Johannesburg - The task ahead for South African policymakers is to balance the benefits of private motoring with the realities of mass transit, according to the Automobile Association of South Africa (AA).
Private motoring will be an important South African transport option for a long time to come and motorists should take a hands-on approach to protect their rights, the AA said in a statement released on Thursday.
It pointed out that private motoring had been one of the most important stimulants of economic growth in the past one hundred years.
“It has enabled people to live and work where they like and given them almost limitless freedom of movement,” the AA said.
“In 1900, Johannesburg to Durban was a two or three week adventure. Now it is a comfortable half a day's drive.”
A broad strategy in which the flexibility of private motoring was weighed up against its costs, energy consumption and emissions is needed.
Other aspects to keep in mind according to the AA were the living patterns of South African suburbs where long commutes were accepted as a fact of life and the difficulty of persuading motorists to move out of their cars onto mass transit.
The current lack of public transport on the scale available in other parts of the world such as Europe and the US was also a concern for the AA.
“Britain is a good example of private motoring and public transport fulfilling specific needs and citizens using whichever is most convenient,” the AA said.
The AA's biggest concern was that policymakers should be realistic about the current role of private motoring.
“We support plans to develop public transport and we encourage motorists to use alternative transport options where they exist. But we also need to be pragmatic and accept that widespread, easily-accessible public transport is probably 20 years away,” the AA said.
“Motorists will need to continue with the kind of hands-on approach seen in the fight against e-tolling to avoid being exploited by unfair taxes merely because alternative public transport has yet to be developed,” the AA concluded.
Private motoring will be an important South African transport option for a long time to come and motorists should take a hands-on approach to protect their rights, the AA said in a statement released on Thursday.
It pointed out that private motoring had been one of the most important stimulants of economic growth in the past one hundred years.
“It has enabled people to live and work where they like and given them almost limitless freedom of movement,” the AA said.
“In 1900, Johannesburg to Durban was a two or three week adventure. Now it is a comfortable half a day's drive.”
A broad strategy in which the flexibility of private motoring was weighed up against its costs, energy consumption and emissions is needed.
Other aspects to keep in mind according to the AA were the living patterns of South African suburbs where long commutes were accepted as a fact of life and the difficulty of persuading motorists to move out of their cars onto mass transit.
The current lack of public transport on the scale available in other parts of the world such as Europe and the US was also a concern for the AA.
“Britain is a good example of private motoring and public transport fulfilling specific needs and citizens using whichever is most convenient,” the AA said.
The AA's biggest concern was that policymakers should be realistic about the current role of private motoring.
“We support plans to develop public transport and we encourage motorists to use alternative transport options where they exist. But we also need to be pragmatic and accept that widespread, easily-accessible public transport is probably 20 years away,” the AA said.
“Motorists will need to continue with the kind of hands-on approach seen in the fight against e-tolling to avoid being exploited by unfair taxes merely because alternative public transport has yet to be developed,” the AA concluded.
