Scrappy BRT Talks Pave the Way for Progress

By Jessica Farley

The mysteries of taxi transport have always plagued me. Between not knowing how the Duckworth/Lewis system works and how to flambé a pudding correctly is the niggling reality that the one trip in a taxi in '97 between Gates and the Randburg Waterfront at 11pm doesn't make me an expert. I dislike not knowing how things work. There is no discernible logic to taxi routs routes or stopping points and the sheer number of people that fit into one taxi mini bus continues to highlight my own personal phobia of people touching me. To my middle to upper class tendencies it just doesn't make sense.

Like the rest of the car driving nation, I have faced off with a taxi driver or two, one of those obscene young lasses in her pretty new car gesticulating wildly at the blatant contempt shown by these people for the rules of the road. But, personal rage aside, the taxi system as it is is something that has been set up by entrepreneurs who spotted a gap in the market, and now, the heavies who promised to protect them look like they are going to take it away with the fell swoop that only African politics are capable of achieving. I would be bleak too.

Obviously the official tag line is that everything is being followed as protocol and the taxi drivers are being happily coddled into the fold of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system. Campaigns of anger displayed earlier in the year lean towards a different truth but, last week in talks in Midrand, the flames of ire were cooled somewhat and plans for the BRT will go ahead.

Deputy Transport Minister Jeremy Cronin said on Thursday that "The city-led processes around the first phases of BRT... must continue. What we are trying to do today is not to again prolong the process, but provide a green light to proceed energetically," A meeting between Transport Minister Sibusiso Ndebele, senior transport officials and taxi bosses led to this pleasant conclusion, reopening channels of communication and greater chances for a sustainable public transport system. During the discussion Ndebele assured taxi bosses that only 5%of the national taxi fleet will be affected by the BRT system roll out up until 20212. "In particular the City of Johannesburg is sitting on a very tight deadline in terms of financial commitments and obligations, and therefore it is absolutely important that we get the first phase up and running by the end of August," Cronin said.

After JZ halted the negotiations just before the April 22 election, things were looking dodgy and my continued refusal to grace the local public transport imminent. This progress is far better. By 2025 the BRT system is expected to cover 1400km across the country should the trial run work out. I wonder whether the Gates/Randburg waterfront route is included in there?