Gautrain too successful?

Is there any plan to expand the Gautrain to say the west rand, southern jhb, alberton, germiston, soweto, etc?
As it stands, it's just servicing the elite north - but funded by all taxpayers.
 
RVQ said:
Apparently some people see it as a nuisance and prefer driving around, who knows maybe they'll come around :p
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Or maybe it was a bad idea, you can't blame the people for not conforming, rather blame government for implementing.
 
system32 said:
Is there any plan to expand the Gautrain to say the west rand, southern jhb, alberton, germiston, soweto, etc?
As it stands, it's just servicing the elite north - but funded by all taxpayers.
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The rumour mill says yes but nothing official yet.
 
Nicodeamus said:
Or maybe it was a bad idea, you can't blame the people for not conforming, rather blame government for implementing.
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To be honest too busy reading my book and listening to music to care about people stuck in traffic... Ye I know, I'm mean that way. I honestly believe this is the one good thing that came out of government.
 
RVQ said:
To be honest too busy reading my book and listening to music to care about people stuck in traffic... Ye I know, I'm mean that way. I honestly believe this is the one good thing that came out of government.
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How do you get to the station btw?
 
Nicodeamus said:
7000 a day vs 7000 an hour, in fact with the money spent they could have removed 14 000 per hour, but who am I arguing with common sense, logic and colonial mathematics. I don't know if you drive on the N1, but it is still congested.
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FYI currently the Gautrain is capable of moving approx. 100 000 people per day
 
RVQ said:
FYI currently the Gautrain is capable of moving approx. 100 000 people per day
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That is about 14 trains, which makes sense if they run it like clockwork at 30min intervals in between it, the problem is that traffic doesn't work this way you will have a congestion of people in the morning and afternoon if this will be the case, if they spent the money on building 2 highways it would have served 250 000 per day.
 
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Nicodeamus said:
That is about 14 trains, which makes sense if they run it like clockwork at 30min intervals in between it, the problem is that traffic doesn't work this way you will have a congestion of people in the morning and afternoon if this will be the case, if they spent the money on building 2 highways it would have served 250 000 per day.
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For some reason you seem to be taking quite a lot to do with the Gautrain personal. What happened to make you so?
 
The good news with something like this is they CAN step up to higher demand. They can add more cars and even more trains in the future, if there is a demand for it.

I personally haven't given it a go yet, but I have a meeting which I plan to use the Gautrain from Rosebank to Midrand this week (just to give it a go :))
 
warchylde said:
For some reason you seem to be taking quite a lot to do with the Gautrain personal. What happened to make you so?
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I'm more against the idea of government stealing from the populace than having the gautrain itself. I hate anything that is state ownership, simply because if it breaks they tax you more, if you don't use it, then they tax the toll road

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. " - Thomas Jefferson
 
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RVQ said:
Drive. It's why I'm thinking of planning to replace the car with a bike. On the other side bus stops couple hundred meters from office.
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And does the parking etc work you out cheaper? My issue is that I live just to far from the station to drive everyday. So I will have to park there, costing money, then buy a ticket, costing money. Depending where I want to go I will have to take a bus, costing money and we get taxed for this. So it costs more money...

Some people also drive 2-2 to work, it just doesn't seem that much cheaper if cheaper at all.
 
Nicodeamus said:
And does the parking etc work you out cheaper? My issue is that I live just to far from the station to drive everyday. So I will have to park there, costing money, then buy a ticket, costing money. Depending where I want to go I will have to take a bus, costing money and we get taxed for this. So it costs more money...

Some people also drive 2-2 to work, it just doesn't seem that much cheaper if cheaper at all.
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Yes currently save a couple hundred bucks but add tolling and a bike to the mix and I'll save over 2G a month. Tried the car pool thing, I work sort of flexi so hated waiting around for the other person or having to deal with their PMS issues
 
Nicodeamus said:
I'm more against the idea of government stealing from the populace than having the gautrain itself. I hate anything that is state ownership, simply because if it breaks they tax you more, if you don't use it, then they tax the toll road

"To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. " - Thomas Jefferson
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Isn't it majority privately owned, I think the province has 25% stake or something where the state owns 100% of the roads...
 
mcryan said:
The good news with something like this is they CAN step up to higher demand. They can add more cars and even more trains in the future, if there is a demand for it.

I personally haven't given it a go yet, but I have a meeting which I plan to use the Gautrain from Rosebank to Midrand this week (just to give it a go :))
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Nicodeamus gots me learning more about the Gautrain than I should but apparently peak runs on 12 min intervals. It can be bumped up to 8 car trains running at 10min intervals, no where does it mention the max capacity of the current infrastructure...
 
RVQ said:
Nicodeamus gots me learning more about the Gautrain than I should but apparently peak runs on 12 min intervals. It can be bumped up to 8 car trains running at 10min intervals, no where does it mention the max capacity of the current infrastructure...
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I also haven't heard any reference of the maximum capacity. I'm sure it could be increased. I've been on many subways and trains overseas that run very frequently. You hardly wait for a single train, even if you've just missed one. I see no reason why the Gautrain couldn't run like this. Some improvements to the system may be needed, but the bulk of the work and structure is in place.
 
http://www.ewn.co.za/Story.aspx?Id=76292

Gautrain bus drivers are striking on Tuesday morning, this time over the suspension of one of their colleagues pending a disciplinary hearing.
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I have this niggling suspicion that I will not be using the Gautrain tomorrow after this morning's almighty stuffup.

The first announcement I heard that there are no buses running at any of the stations, was on the train leaving Sandton station at 6:32.

The impact of this strike might not be huge for Bombela but it is huge for commuters especially since there was zero advance warning.
 
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I want to take the Gautrain tomorrow but I don't have an access card. Will I be able to take the bus to the station without having a card yet?
 
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