KEDIBONE DIALE-TLABELA | A province gridlocked at rush hour cannot compete

There is a number that should concentrate every mind in Gauteng:transportmodelling projects that by 2037, peak-hour highway speeds in this province will drop to 10km/h. That is not a traffic inconvenience. That is an economic crisis that is already under way.

A province gridlocked at rush hour cannot compete for investment or talent. Workers who spend two hours in traffic each way arrive depleted and depart early. Businesses that cannot move goods reliably lose contracts to competitors who can.

Investors who weigh up where to locate their operations look at infrastructure first. A congested, unreliable transport system is a competitive liability. Gauteng has known this for a long time.

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What has changed is that the plans are now in place, the commitments have been made and the work has begun. How do we build a transport system equal to the demands of the fastest-growing urban region in Africa? This week’s inauguralNational Transport Conferenceat the Gallagher Convention Centre brought together the government, the private sector and civil society around a single question: how do we build a transport system equal to the demands of the fastest-growing urban region in Africa?

The fact that Gauteng was chosen to host that conversation is not incidental. This province is where the problem is most acute and where the solutions are being built. Fifteen years ago, when the first Gautrain departed Sandton Station for OR Tambo International Airport, it demonstrated something South Africans had not seen before: public transport that was reliable, safe and fast enough to be a genuine choice rather than a last resort.

Fifteen years and more than 200-million passenger trips later, that promise has held. In the 2024/25 financial year, Gautrain achieved 99.51% availability and 97.57% punctuality. Those numbers reflect the daily reality of commuters who chose rail and found it kept its word.

That record matters because it makes the case for what comes next. The proposed extensions of Gautrain services to Soweto and Mamelodi are not aspirational gestures. They are the logical next step in a system that has proven it works.

For too long, Gautrain has been characterised as a service for the few. Extending it into townships that house a substantial share of Gauteng’s population changes that characterisation permanently. Efficient, reliable rail must serve everyone, regardless of where they live or what they earn.

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