Engineering News reports that Gautrain Management Agency CEO Jack van der Merwe told the Competition Commission’s land-based public passenger transport inquiry on Wednesday that Metrorail did not currently run “where the people are”.  

Metrorail is operated by the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa).  In response to a question on the Metrorail and Gautrain systems competing on the same routes, Van der Merwe said that Metrorail was built between 1930 and 1950 to serve the mining and farming industries.  However, today “it does not run where the people are.  Even worse, it does not run where people work.”  Van der Merwe said the proposed extension of the Gautrain system, currently awaiting National Treasury approval, would not compete with Metrorail, but “complement it”.  He noted that the current Gautrain system linked up with the Metrorail system, wherever possible.  Van der Merwe warned that mobility in Gauteng was shifting away from public transport.  In 2000, 60% of commuters used public transport, and 40% their cars.  In 2011, 56% used public transport and 44% their private cars.  Van der Merwe added that e-hailing, through services such as Uber, had proved popular in Gauteng, especially with the youth, and that there was a shift to mobility as a service.

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