In recent years, new Bus Rapid Transit systems have been planned for South Africa's major cities. This new transit system will have bus lanes cleared of other cars, and the buses are said to provide fast, affordable, and comfortable travel. Prodded by a national commitment to improve public transportation for the soccer World Cup that is being held in South Africa this year, Johannesburg is carrying out the nation's most ambitious program. The city had predicted that by June buses would be running from Soweto (where a quarter of the city's four million people live) to Sandton (the region's commercial and financial hub). It's sad that it takes a World Cup for South African leaders to finally get going on giving their citizens the transportation systems they need (but I guess getting it as a by-product of the World Cup is still getting it).
However, there is conflict surrounding this new BRT system, and, as a result, the bus project is falling short of its goals. There is resistance to the plans by both white suburbanites and the black-owned minibus taxi industry. The city's first challenge was winning over the minibus taxi industry. They move 14 million people daily, which is far more than the bus and rail systems combined. This black-owned industry sprang up during apartheid and is one of the country's greatest success stories of black entrepreneurship. However, the industry has a history of ruthless violence. Experts estimate that hundreds, if not thousands, of people have died in "taxi wars" in an effort to control routes. The city has tried to get the industry involved by offering taxi proprietors ownership of the bus operating company, but negotiations have dragged on and some in the industry still remain adamantly opposed. After the bus line began running five months ago, a bus was shot at and two people on the bus were killed. The city council member that leads Johannesburg's Transportation Department had a gunmen shoot at her home and her body guard was shot in the neck. In another incident, a taxi industry official and an advocate for the bus system deal with the city was killed.
The city also faces opposition from the suburbanites that don't want this transit system to go through their neighborhoods (classic "Not-In-My-Backyard"). There also is an element of racism. Some people are not ready for or open to the idea of bridging racial and class divides. Some white suburbanites do not want their mostly-white enclaves to be accessible to those from other communities (read: black communities). Residents in these suburbs are already raising money for legal battles. One neighborhood association wrote a letter to the city saying they don't oppose the idea of a mass transit system, they just oppose what they consider to be ill-conceived routes (read: their neighborhoods) that they say will pollute the air, cause traffic to spill onto side roads, increase crime (I think we know what they're saying here...), and damage property values. One resident of this neighborhood said their opposition is not motivated by race or guarding white privilege -- in fact, she explained that a lot of the black political elite, including Nelson Mandela, now live in the same neighborhoods. So obviously, it's not a race issue. I think she really set the record straight there ('We allow rich black people to live here...That counts for something, right?'). Shireen Ally, a sociologist at the University of Witwatersrand and also a resident of one of the affected neighborhoods, said that race has everything to do with the suburbs' reaction. She said she grew angry as white residents at the city meetings kept complaining about the bus project damaging their property values. She said these suburbanites with cars are not considering the needs of the people dependent on public transportation -- especially all the housekeepers and nannies that have to make the trek up to the suburbs for these families. One in six working women in South Africa is a housekeeper or a nanny -- the majority of them are black and work for a white family in the northern suburbs. Shireen Ally said she was disturbed by "the incapacity of these suburbanites to think about it from the perspective of the women they trust their children and home to, the women they call part of the family." As a result of the suburbanites' opposition, the city council member that leads Johannesburg's Transportation Department reported that the buses would not reach Sandton before the current city administration's term expired next year, and that they cannot offer a prediction of when that goal would be met.
To show the personal implications of this transit system, the article features the story of Susan Hanong. She is a 67 year old maid who has a very long commute to the wealthy, northern suburbs of Johannesburg. She has never learned to read. She cares for her 14-year-old nephew whose father, a taxi driver, was killed in the industry violence. She gets up at dawn to make the long trek to clean white people's houses and to watch their children. Mrs. Hanong often took a minibus taxi to work, but now she rides the bus. She enjoys the new high-tech bus station and the smooth ride on the bus where she gets to claim a front row seat reserved for the elderly. She finds the bus ride more tranquil -- she explains, "These people on taxis, they shout at us. They say, 'Granny, just move!' They talk funny to the people. On the bus, no one can shout at you." She likes the new buses so much that she walks an extra half hour to reach them. The bus costs her 65 cents each way; taxi fare would be 50 cents more, which is a considerable difference given that her earnings are $160 a month. However, the bus doesn't take her all the way to Sandton (thanks to the suburbanites opposition), and she has to transfer to a taxi. It takes her two hours to get from her home to Sandton. Transportation eats up a fifth of her salary. (Full Story)
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