South Africa: Time is Running Out for Transport Plans

It sounds all too familiar: the promise of an upgraded public transport system that will see Capetonians being able to hop from one transport mode to the next while going to work or running errands.

For the sceptics among us - and there are many - this vision of a city on the move with state of the art infrastructure and an integrated system where buses, trains and minibus taxis run to schedules you can set your timepiece to, is too fanciful to believe.

We have hailed so many proposals before, witnessed the unveiling of various plans and been excited at the creativity of pioneering solutions to overhaul the transport system and take it into the new millennium.

Now, with the spectre of the 2010 Soccer World Cup looming large, resolving the challenges facing the public transport system has become all the more urgent. The provincial transport and public works department assures us that planned projects are to become "live projects" from next month.

Cosatu and the Rail Commuter Action Group have warned the authorities that time is up for talking and that the implementation of the strategy is crucial if the city and province want to host a successful World Cup semifinal.

Many of those who have voiced support for the massive spending required for South Africa to host the soccer tournament have argued that the long-term benefit to infrastructure in the host cities makes it all worthwhile.

The overwhelming majority of commuters who presently rely on the hopelessly inadequate public transport network are ordinary folk who have no alternative as they travel from the apartheid-created dormitory townships to their places of employment. If 2010 is to be counted a success it has to make a difference to the masses in this country.