{"id":596920,"date":"2025-06-02T09:58:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T07:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=596920"},"modified":"2025-06-02T09:58:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T07:58:45","slug":"lessons-for-gautrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/596920-lessons-for-gautrain.html","title":{"rendered":"Lessons for Gautrain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Gautrain, one of South Africa’s most efficient forms of formally-regulated public transport, can attribute a significant portion of its success to its public-private partnership (PPP) model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This PPP was formed when the Gautrain Management Agency awarded Bombela Concession Company the tender to design, build, maintain, operate, and partially fund the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 19-and-a-half-year agreement is due to elapse at the end of March next year, with the Gauteng Provincial Government announcing that the “post-2026 Gautrain will also be procured via a PPP.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given Gauteng Transport MEC Kedibone Diale-Tabela’s recent announcement that Gautrain fares will be “more accessible” from March next year, this new PPP will be key to its success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good foreign case study for the success of PPPs in affordable public transport is Taiwan’s Mass Rapid Transport (MRT) rail service, which I experienced on a recent trip to Computex in Taipei, the capital city. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of what makes the service so efficient is its affordability and the frequency of trains arriving every 1.5 minutes during peak hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure PPPs in Taiwan, such as the one used to develop the MRT rail service, have been encouraged through government policy for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These partnerships were first incentivised through the Statute for Encouragement of Private Participation in Transportation Infrastructure Projects, enacted in 1994, according to Lee and Li Attorneys<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Taiwan High Speed Rail system is one of the infrastructure projects the state subsidised following the statute’s enactment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Act for Promotion of Private Participation in Infrastructure Projects (PPIP Act) was then enacted in 2001 to create a more conducive environment for their functioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee and Li Attorneys note that 1,818 PPP contracts were signed between 2002 and November 2020, equating to more than NT$1.856 trillion (R1.1 trillion) in value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking the Taipei MRT train<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Using Taipei’s MRT rail service, a PPP governed by the Mass Rapid Transport Act, was quite a shock compared to rail services in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having used South Africa’s Metrorail and Gautrain services, Taipei’s MRT rail service was a significant step-up in service delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For starters, the cost of MRT rail, at NT$30 (R18) to cover just over 11 kilometres, is similar to Metrorail’s, while the service’s efficient operation could be compared to the Gautrain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon entering the station and being greeted by the refreshing feeling of cool air conditioning after intense humidity outside, you must purchase a ticket if you do not have an MRT pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This can be done by using the self-service vending machines. In this case, your ticket is a blue token that must be scanned when passing through the turnstiles to grant access to the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When buying a ticket, you will also be told about any necessary line switches and what exit to use at your final destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can then proceed to your train. The frequency at which trains arrive depends on the time of day. Fortunately, I was travelling during peak hours, meaning I only had to wait 1.5 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike train platforms back home, there is physically no way to access the tracks as a commuter, with electronic doors that only open when a train arrives lining either side of the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once on the train, the experience was a combination of travelling via the Metrorail and Gautrain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The carriages were jam-packed, but very well maintained, with informative digital signage in Mandarin and English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the image above shows a person controlling the train, a Taipei local informed me that the one we were on was fully automated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After disembarking, you follow the signs to your designated exit and slot the token into the turnstile to leave the station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are images from the commute. Click on the images to expand them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
The MRT rail ticket<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The MRT rail platform<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Doors blocking access to the rails<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A “Metro Hackathon” advertised on the train<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A packed train carriage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gautrain rail service aims to reduce prices at the end of its current public-private partnership with Bombela Concession Company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341175,"featured_media":486557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[71840,20057,8231,100036,99983,24977,97223,100035],"class_list":["post-596920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-bombela-concession-company","tag-gauteng-provincial-government-gpg","tag-gautrain","tag-gautrain-management-agency","tag-kedibone-diale-tabela","tag-metrorail","tag-public-private-partnership","tag-taipei-mrt-rail-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596920"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341175"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596920"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":597119,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596920\/revisions\/597119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/486557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}