Bus operators and taxi associations are in agreement that a rapid bus system is the best way to solve congestion on South Africa’s roads, but who should own it remains a contentious issue. Speaking at the Transport Forum at the University of Johannesburg on Thursday, Braam de Jong, senior operations executive for Putco, said there was no doubt that an improved public transport system was needed to ease congestion and more buses were definitely the way to do that. He, however, said that the City of Joburg’s Rea Vaya BRT project had not left only taxi owners up in arms. “The city did not adhere to the their memorandum of understanding with us. They did not bring bus operators and taxi owners together to talk and they did not respond to the comments we made.” Describing the BRT in Joburg as a “make up as you go” system, De Jong said there was much cause for concern. “They have developed and revised the first phase of this project without any bus operator involvement.” PK Thiba, national executive council member of Santaco agreed, saying taxis had never been opposed to BRT, but were not going to watch their livelihoods being taken from them by a system that had not been thought through.
