The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) on Monday welcomed the efforts by the Department of Transport, nationally and provincially, to encourage the general public to use public transport by pronouncing October “transport month”.
However, Satawu said it was concerned that the department’s pronouncements were rhetorical and publicity seeking, rather than practical.
It was quite clear, Satawu said, that the appeal of Transport Minister Jeff Radebe and his Transport MECs for more people to use public transport would fall on deaf ears as long as public transport remained under-funded and poorly coordinated.
“Commuters currently use public transport because they have no choice. The Department of Transport must take practical steps so that public transport becomes the mode of choice. For it to become the mode of choice it has to be frequent, reliable, direct, safe and affordable. Currently it is none of these,” the union said.
Satawu argued that the first step in the road towards safety, reliability, frequency and affordability was a massive increase in government funding.
The union said that Radebe should use “transport month” to demand a substantial increase in his budget.
“It is scandalous that not a single new subsidised bus route has been approved in the country for past seven years, despite massive urban growth. Entire new residential areas have been developed with no provision for bus services. It is also unacceptable that there are no plans in place to expand the Metrorail system, let alone improve its maintenance,” the union said.
Satawu has been demanding for some time that the government puts in place an emergency investment plan for Metrorail.
“It is not good enough to argue that there will be improvements after the integration of Metrorail with the SARCC. Integration is not going to resolve the fact that the rolling stock and infrastructure has not been properly funded.”
The trade union added that the second step should be the urgent setting up of the Transport Planning Authorities in metros, as per legislation that has long been in place.
Currently the absence of integrated transport planning is perpetuating competition between different modes along the same routes, rather than a situation where the modes complement each other, Satawu stated.
Satawu said the government should also scrap the bus tendering system once and for all.
“Rather than bringing the cost to government down, the tendering system has become more expensive to government, resulting in substantially fewer subsidised services being provided. It has also resulted in an attack on bus workers’ conditions of employment. As a consequence, trained workers are leaving the industry in droves, with consequences for safety.”
In the taxi industry, the union added that government should urgently put measures into place to ensure the enforcement of recently legislated minimum wages and working conditions for taxi workers.
“In the absence of proper implementation of minimum wages, taxi workers remain driven to compete for passenger loads. This is not a recipe for safety.”
Satawu also called on government to urgently review the Gautrain project.
Satawu said it had learnt that the burden on the central fiscus might be as high as R20-billion.
“The project is therefore no longer a provincial matter. National government must take stock and ask itself if the Gautrain is going to make any serious and cost effective contribution to the expansion of public transport services.”
Satawu added that it was high time government reviewed its strategy of private provision of social services, including transport.
“The best public transport systems in the world are all owned by local, regional or national authorities. The sale of municipal and provincial bus services must be reversed. Satawu understands that the privatisation of public transport is driven by government’s macro economic Gear policy. This policy must be reviewed.” – I-Net Bridge