‘That’s wishful thinking’: Joburg’s new public transport access plan questioned

The Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has launched a Universal Design Access Plan (UDAP) aimed at ensuring inclusive, accessible, and equitable public transport systems across the city. The plan will involve detailed audits and surveys across key public transport systems, including Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Metrobus and Putco operations, to assess the accessibility of bus stops, vehicles, customer care services, signage, digital platforms and overall transport infrastructure. However, DA’s spokesperson for transport in Gauteng, Sean Kreusch, has noted that the proposed transport plan is only as good as the quality of the transport service providers, including Metrobus, Rea Vaya, Gautrain, and the minibus industry.

Sean Keusch highlighted the various issues that affect the way public transportation operates in Gauteng province, including road collapses, deteriorating bridges, failing stormwater systems, and broken traffic signals that are never fixed. Keusch noted that the entire plan becomes weak and meaningless when the basic movement of people, goods, services, and economic opportunity is failing. “And this crisis extends far beyond public transport,” said Keusch.

He added that the Johannesburg Roads Agency’s Road Asset Management System, which manages all road inventories and data, is itself in decline, operating at only 62% monitoring capacity for critical infrastructure. During his speech to Council on the state of the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA), Metrobus and Rea Vaya, Keusch asked how the integrated development plan (IDP) was informed to formulate an integrated approach, if, in total, Joburg requires approximately R115 billion, to simply rescue infrastructure from total decay. “Where will this money come from?

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More borrowings?” he asked. “You cannot claim to have a people’s plan when there is no plan for the people.”

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