Article: Gautrain passenger numbers should be investigated: DA

The new Transport Minister Ben Martins should urgently investigate the reasons why so few people use the Gautrain, it was reported on Wednesday.

Democratic Alliance transport spokesman Ian Ollis MP, said the low usage meant taxpayers were having to pay nearly R300 million a year to the Gautrain's operators, Beeld reported.
 
rpm said:
The new Transport Minister Ben Martins should urgently investigate the reasons why so few people use the Gautrain, it was reported on Wednesday.

Democratic Alliance transport spokesman Ian Ollis MP, said the low usage meant taxpayers were having to pay nearly R300 million a year to the Gautrain's operators, Beeld reported.
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Prohibitive cost. Route Transport problems from the stations. There you go.
 
1. Make it cheaper.
2. Add more routes. Not just buses, but train stations as well etc - for example, from Silverton to Irene etc.
 
Probably because it only goes in pretty much a straight line, doesn't cover a third of what is needed, it took ages for the one station to come online, it also costs quite a bit for the average South African. Would be nice if there were stations on the Western side of Johannesburg too.
 
As soon as more stations open up and feeder transport becomes more viable, it will take off. Until then, it will be a cash-whore...
 
Cost - It stupid expensive and to use it I need 2 cars which means two parking tickets.
Busses run to a very small area
Location
 
DJ... said:
As soon as more stations open up and feeder transport becomes more viable, it will take off. Until then, it will be a cash-whore...
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+10
Busses should run to more areas and it should be included in the train ticket price. It's just to expensive.
 
The plans are to integrate far more stations. Problem here is that it is a double edged sword. We do not have the money (we would have had the e-toll system not been introduced) to build the entire system in one go. Therefore the pragmatic approach has to be taken. But if customers don't use the train, they will struggle to raise capital for the new extensions. Catch 22.

Needs a little bit of faith from the public here. We all demand better public transport but bitch when the first phase is introduced because it doesn't cover enough of an area. Hopefully the DA don't try to change public perception here about the project. That is the last thing we need...
 
Also bus drivers will go on strike often without warning.
If the system is not reliable it is totally useless.
 
I would love to use it. I hope they build a section that goes into PTA east.
 
Gautrain is good but does not beat the use of a private car unless you stay and work very close to the stations.

Private sector companies need to come to the party as well. The likes of ABSA, Std Bank, Anglo etc already pick up their employees from the station using shuttle taxis.
 
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110 000 sounds like the total estimated number of passengers between PTA and JHB (and two suburbs in the two cities). I might be missing something here, but for the section being implemented, this number should reduce to maybe two thirds? Are the operatorse being compensated for a full 110 000 estimated passengers per day?

EDIT: Areas to be services too are PTA east, north, west, JHB south, eastern suburbs, western areas, Krugersdorp (maybe) as well as all the interlinkages. Only the mainline network is done for now.
 
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Mila said:
Cost - It stupid expensive and to use it I need 2 cars which means two parking tickets.
Busses run to a very small area
Location
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If they make provision for folks to take clean bicycles on with them I am sure this would increase the number of users as well as get traffic off the roads in the inner cities.
 
I've been using it for a few weeks now and I love it. The station is 9km from my house and the ticket from Rhodesfield to Sandton + parking works out to pretty much the same as I would have spent on petrol in any way. The only difference now is I don't have to spend 3-4 hours a day in traffic.
 
JungleBoy said:
Gautrain is good but does not beat the use of a private car unless you stay and work very close to the stations.

Private sector companies need to come to the party as well. The likes of ABSA, Std Bank, Anglo etc already pick up their employees from the station using shuttle taxis.
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The problem with Gauteng is the sheer disparate nature of the province. Other countries with well developed public transport tend to be far smaller than Gauteng. It is going to be very costly to roll out but if they do it properly, will by its very nature be one of the most developed in the world. Problem is, by the time they finish this, I suspect technology might be in the process of making mass, static-route public transport redundant.

And yes, private sector do need to come to the party to an extent, but it is cost prohibitive for many companies to run their own private, not-for-profit transport business...
 
To me its the cost.

I know it looks snazzy and European but it is public transport and should represent costs based on the basis of what the public who need the transport can afford
 
Sneeky said:
If they make provision for folks to take clean bicycles on with them I am sure this would increase the number of users as well as get traffic off the roads in the inner cities.
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That's better out of the box thinking. If government subsidised electric bicycles or even small electric car taxis, this could have been fantastic. The Geely could have filled this gap nicely. The problem is the government are schit scared to do anything that risks pissing off the minibus taxi businesses...
 
ISP cash cow said:
To me its the cost.

I know it looks snazzy and European but it is public transport and should represent costs based on the basis of what the public who need the transport can afford
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How else do they recover costs? They cannot run a fast enough service over such a disparate network for the numbers required to lower the costs. That comes with a developed public transport system - not a developing one...
 
IMHO it's reliability then cost. I used the Gautrain a couple of times to get to OR Tambo. Then it hit snags, ran late, whatever. Now I just can't be arsed.

Travelling to OR Tambo is actually cheaper by Gautrain if you factor in the exorbitant parking charges. Or close to. And waaaaaaay faster.
 
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