Some issues of public transport system governance, planning and regulation in South African cities

1
Some issues of public transport system
governance, planning and regulation in South
African cities
Centre for Transport Studies

• Peter Wilkinson
• School of Architecture, Planning Geomatics
  University of Cape Town ? Private Bag X3 ?
  RONDEBOSCH 7701
• (Peter.Wilkinson_at_uct.ac.za ? 021 650 2387)

South African Cities Network Seminar on
Sustainable Public TransportCape Town 14-15
August 2008
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Preliminary remarks

• commuter-led transit planning what should it
  mean?
• presumably, not full-on collaborative or
  deliberative planning in the sense of
  decision-making through public argumentation
  employed by (some) planning theorists
• rather, an approach to planning which
• recognises actual (rather than assumed) mobility
  needs and constraints of (differentiated) public
  transport user groups
• seeks to actively solicit and respond to users
  views at various stages or moments of planning
  process
• monitors effectiveness of service provision and
  adjusts planning and regulatory action to
  accommodate changing context
• i.e. attempts to operationalise established
  commitments to instituting customer facing
  provision (embodied in Moving South Africa
  strategic framework,1999) and user-oriented
  public transport networks (re-articulated in NDoT
  Public Transport Strategy, 2006)

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Current institutional framework governing
provision of public transport services
highly fragmented and incoherently configured
system modes not integrated or even effectively
coordinated planning disconnected from
regulation and operational management, as well as
from public funding streams required to implement
systemic transformation
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Institutional reform proposed in National Land
Transport Bill (2008)
functions of planning and regulating road-based
public transport services plus management of
subsidised (and commercial) service contracts to
be consolidated at local level in major cities
(DPA/TA) to facilitate installation of IRPTNs
existing rail functions to remain in place to
be coordinated at local level through inter-modal
planning committees minibus-taxi operations to
be incorporated into IRPTNs as feeder services or
absorbed into new BRT or other scheduled service
operating entities
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Schematic diagram of possible integrated rapid
public transport network
express services operating between major nodes
transit-oriented development precincts around
major stations or interchanges ?
line-haul services (road- or rail-based) embedded
in higher density, mixed land use development
corridors
feeder services connecting to line-haul and
express service stations or interchanges
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Proposed IRPTN for Cape Town (February 2007)

• Phase 1 includes inner city system and West
  Coast and CTI airport links ( associated feeder
  services?)
• estimated cost to establish full BRT system
  for Phase 1 R2.9 billion

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Some governance issues raised by proposed
transformation of public transport systems (1)

• three primary aspects/dimensions of public
  transport system transformation
• technical complex operational design and
  management issues to be resolved in planning and
  installing fully integrated system to enable
  seamless passage by users (routing, scheduling,
  vehicle selection, ticketing, etc)
• financial establishing appropriate
  funding/contractual arrangements i.t.o.
• provision/maintenance of necessary infrastructure
  (and possibly addition/replacement of vehicle
  fleets or rolling stock)
• possible operational subsidies (to supplement
  appropriate and sustainable tariff/fare
  structure)
• institutional developing appropriate framework
  for system governance (where governance
  direction/management achieved through
  self-organising interorganisational or
  stakeholder networks)

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Some governance issues raised by proposed
transformation of public transport systems (2)

• resolving governance issue is probably most
  problematic, given disparate, currently
  disordered array of stakeholders involved
• formal (private and parastatal sector) operators
• partially formalised /regulated minibus-taxi
  operators significantly disaffected, prone to
  wildcat interventions
• agencies in all three spheres of government
  (NDoT, PDoT, municipality/TA)
• (various) public transport user groups at
  present largely voiceless, occasionally venting
  frustration in violent protests
• plus need to interact with other
  stakeholders in broader urban transport system,
  including
• freight transport operators
• private transport users (motorists and
  motorcyclists)
• the NMT constituency (pedestrians and cyclists)
• others land use/spatial development
  planning agencies with their own constituencies
  of stakeholders?

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Some governance issues raised by proposed
transformation of public transport systems (3)

• formation of local DPA/TA may be a necessary, but
  in and of itself is unlikely to be a sufficient
  condition for effective governance in context of
  proposed systemic transformation
• ? what institutional framework would enable
  adoption of more collaborative/interactive
  approach?
• representation on local land transport advisory
  boards should be broadened beyond government
  and private sector (as specified in NLT Bill)
  to include other stakeholders certainly PT
  users and operators
• LTAB mandates should be framed to include
  consideration of issues related to planning and
  regulation, as well as routine operation, of
  public transport system
• monitoring and evaluation of transformation
  programme outcomes should be reported to, and
  considered, by LTABs on an ongoing basis

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Some governance issues raised by proposed
transformation of public transport systems (4)

• involvement of MBT operators in transformation
  programme is likely to prove particularly
  problematic
• justified or not, widely-shared perception is
  that programme is being imposed top-down
  without adequate consultation or recognition of
  de facto rights (we developed and own the routes
  and we did it with no assistance or subsidy
  from government)
• established informal operating practices and
  business models may be hard for more
  survivalist stratum within industry to abandon
  in favour of formalised and highly structured
  management and control systems required for
  scheduling and monitoring IRPTN operations (we
  dont want to change
• ? potential spoiling role a key concern
  for international operators and banks
  considering involvement in programme
• possibility that significant job-shedding will
  occur as currently overtraded (and largely
  underquklaified) MBT sector is incorporated into
  rationalised and scheduled IRPTNs

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Conclusion no easy road or quick fix ahead?

• initial phases in implementing IRPTN programmes
  will require intensive negotiation and careful
  (possibly lengthy) preparation if (some?)
  disaffected MBT operators are not to emerge as
  disruptive spoilers Day 1 failure could set
  transformational project back several years
• at present, first phases of programme appear to
  have been fast-tracked, presumably to meet
  host city expectations associated with holding
  of 2010 World Cup event
• not clear that this is sensible,
  particularly given the extended (10-year plus?)
  delay in getting to this point, at which the
  absolute necessity of transforming public
  transport systems in the major cities has finally
  been recognised
• ? overarching objective must be to
  accommodate routine, everyday mobility needs of
  resident populations rather than those of
  transient visitors emphasis on catalysing role
  of 2010 preparations should not be allowed to
  deflect attention from this more fundamental and
  strategically central requirement