Research Paper: Venter, C. (2013). The lurch towards formalisation: Lessons from the implementation of BRT in Johannesburg, South Africa. Research in Transportation Economics, 39(1), 114-120.

The paper uses a life-cycle analogy to asses the minibus-taxi industry and the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Johannesburg, South Africa.

 

What this paper is about

  • An approach that seems to have offered attractive opportunities for facilitating the transformation of informal operators into formal sector participants, is to use new Bus Rapid Transit systems to simultaneously leverage the innovation of both the technical and business sides of public transport.
  • In an attempt to explain what can be seen as an unexpected lurch by sections of the taxi industry towards formal participation in the BRT, the authors utilize a life cycle analogy, arguing that the informal public transport industry is facing stagnant technological and market realities, from which BRT might offer escape.
  • A history of failed state intervention in the minibus taxi industry.

       

      What you can learn

      • Perhaps the most important lesson the minibus-taxi experience in South Africa teaches is that transformation of an informal public transport industry into a formal industry, operating within the quality frameworks required by government, is not likely to be achievable via a heavy-handed, top-down regulatory approach.
      • Yet, it seems that Bus Rapid Transit, in the way it is envisaged locally, is able to provide a structured mechanism through which informal public transport operators can escape from the logic of informality. This makes BRT a potentially strong instrument in achieving government’s strategic goals for public transport.
      • In conclusion, while BRT in general offers significant promise for underpinning the formalisation and transformation of informal public transport operators, the jury is still out on the question of whether Bus Rapid Transit in South Africa will continue to do so in a sustainable and comprehensive manner.

       

       

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