Gauteng residents spend at least an hour getting to destinations during peak hours: survey

Gauteng residents spend at least an hour reaching their destinations while travelling during peak-hour traffic.

This is according to findings of the General Household Travel Survey (GHTS) by the Council for Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR).

The research was commissioned by the Gauteng department of roads and transport and was aimed at examining the transport patterns of households in the province. The report was released on Tuesday.

According to the findings of the report, 34.7% of respondents who drove their vehicles in Johannesburg spent an hour and 16 minutes commuting during peak hours, while the average travelling time by bus in the City of Ekurhuleni during peak hours was a whopping two hours and 28 minutes. 

The report noted that while Gauteng and the City of Johannesburg do not have explicit policy targets, indications are service quality is deteriorating, as characterised by increased travel times and reliance on lower capacity transport modes for a city in which the population is rapidly increasing.

“Crime is also emerging as a threat for users of public transport. Respondents particularly feel unsafe when walking to access public transport services. Improved collaboration with policing services to improve the personal security of public transport users is imperative,” reads the report.

In the City of Tshwane, public transport users said they were particularly concerned about the relatively high fares for minibus taxis and overcrowding in buses and minibus taxis.

The report said about 60% of households in the city spend more than 10% of earnings on public transport. 

“More than 50% of households in the City of Tshwane have no household member with a driver’s licence, and the number of such households is on the increase, further indicating basic dependence on public transport,” reads the report.

The report notes close to 4% of individuals in the city have some form of disability or mobility constraint which must be catered for in the design and operation of transport services.

Concern was expressed about long travel times in Tshwane. “This requires the city to continue to focus on improving transport service delivery within its jurisdiction while collaborating with the Gauteng Transport Authority.”  

According to the report, households in Ekurhuleni spend the most on public transport in the province. Walking times to and from the nearest public transport services also tend to be higher in Ekurhuleni relative to other areas in the province.

In Sedibeng district municipality, households expressed dissatisfaction with expensive taxi fares. The report found, however, they spend less on public transport than all other regions in the province.

“Household members are dissatisfied with almost all train service attributes, apart from fares and the distance from the station to the workplace. Travel times tend to be high, even for trips made by private cars. It appears those driving to work compensate for this by departing relatively early,” reads the report.

It also found inequalities in the municipality are illustrated by relatively high average household car ownership, yet most households are without a car and without a member with a driver’s licence.

In the West Rand district municipality, it was found about 46% of households spend more than 10% of their household income on public transport, one of the lowest levels of expenditure in Gauteng.

It appears households offset the cost of public transport by walking longer distances.

“In the more rural areas of Randfontein, as much as 70% of household members walk for trip purposes. On average, walking all the way is 50 minutes one way. The municipality’s household car access of 0.53 cars per household is higher than the national figure of 0.31, and the average figure for metropolitan municipalities of 0.398.

“More than 66% of households do not have access to a car, making public transport service delivery a basic need.”

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.