BusinessLive reports that independent transport analyst Paul Browning says the management of the SA transport system is dysfunctional and impedes its development and the formalisation of a chaotic minibus-taxi industry.  

He said this at the Competition Commission’s inquiry into SA’s land-based public passenger transport market on Monday.  The inquiry comes as passenger transport systems throughout the country are failing at an increasing rate.  Delegates have submitted evidence of escalating violent crime on commuter trains and violence among minibus-taxi operators, violent clashes between metered-taxi operators and e-hailing services, and near-universal unreliability and inadequacy of all commuter services.  The inquiry intends formulating proposals that will lead to "meaningful mobility" for South Africans in pursuit of economic participation.  In large part, Browning, who represented the National Transportation Task Team, blamed the failure of commuter systems on municipalities for poor implementation of transport strategies.  "Few municipalities are capable of implementing (transport) plans and they are too slow, they do not have the capacity to adapt to change," he observed.  Referring to the bus rapid transit system, Browning said planning might be too rigid, and that there would be no point in legislating if the laws were unenforceable.

• Read this report by Neels Blom in full at BusinessLive

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