Spatial information systems in managing public transport information
Journal Article
2004
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South African Journal of Information Management
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AOSIS
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University of Cape Town
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Abstract
Traffic congestion is one of the major problems plaguing urban cities all over the world today. With traffic congestion, goods and services experience delays in accessing markets and employees are late for work. This results in reduced production. At the same time, idling vehicles waste fuel and cause air pollution. This situation is the same in South Africa, where millions of rand are lost each year on congestion costs (CERF 1999). Studies carried out in Cape Town, South Africa, project that if no immediate action is taken to reduce traffic congestion, by the year 2020, the car population will increase by 64%, thereby reducing highway traffic speeds to 29 kilometres per hour (South Africa. National Department of Transport 1999). Worldwide, policies to reduce congestion levels include, among other things, the promotion of public transport (Climate Change 2001; Cullinane and Cullinane 2003). As public transport has a better cost and space effectiveness for transportation of volumes of people, having more people use public transport will lead to a reduction in the number of vehicles on the road. This will, in turn, reduce traffic congestion and its effects (De Saint Laurent 1998).
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Reference:
Dondo, C., & Rivett, U. (2004). Spatial information systems in managing public transport information. South African Journal of Information Management, 6(2).