Mention "Public transport" in South Africa and you will immediately create images in the minds of South Africans of lawless taxis with zero regulation of standards.
Despite this, South Africa actually has a relatively successful (and profitable) bus industry operating in the region. This system is going to be imperative when we host the 2010 football world cup, so we need to get this right.
Unfortunately the taxi operators are highly concerned about the introduction of the expanded bus system into South Africa. I mean - why would you want to trade in a taxi that has served you perfectly well and profitably for the last 10 years, for a bus with its increased maintenance standards and lack of manuverability??
After all its not quite so easy to take a bus up the pavement as a shortcut or perform a 180 degree turn in a full sized bus as it might be in a mini bus taxi...
But in all seriousness, the bus system has a lot of merit for the South African road system - we just need something a little more organised that we can all understand.
For the last 2 years, local government has been running with this campaign that tries to encourage South Africans to make use of public transport rather than use single person cars - thereby contributing to congestion on the roads... The only problem is - they forget to tell us guys who have never caught a bus - how the bloody system works!
The idea behind this blog is to try and work out what commuters thinks of the bus system and discuss some of the ideas that people are putting forward to improve transportation and public transport in South Africa.
