Passenger rail in Cape Town: exploring institutional forms for a more effective rail service

Wallace, Warwick James

Passenger rail in Cape Town: exploring institutional forms for a more effective rail service

Thesis / Dissertation

2024

Abstract

In South Africa, passenger rail services are currently in a painfully poor state. This disproportionately affects the poor who have to rely on more expensive alternative transport options, and as a result of unjust apartheid planning of the past, typically live the furthest away from economic opportunity. In the City of Cape Town, many of the poorest households spend up to 40% of their income alone and travel relatively long distances within the municipality. This is in part due to the historic development of the city, which developed around rail corridors, a development pattern which is still evident and pursued in the city's contemporary spatial planning. The concern about this situation is that the City of Cape Town has very little power over improving the rail system as it is owned by the national passenger rail company, PRASA, who have severely mismanaged South African passenger rail. Furthermore, the failings of PRASA have impeded the City of Cape Town's ability to integrate its land use planning with this vital transport mode and as a result are unable to leverage passenger rail to aid in its transit-oriented development strategies, this is further explained in chapter 6. There is therefore a need to understand what problems need to be addressed, how best these problems should be addressed (by which sphere of government), and how improving rail services in Cape Town can be achieved. Therefore, the aim of this study is to understand the reasons for rail decline and the challenges to its operation in Cape Town and how best these challenges can be overcome. This aim was achieved by using Cape Town as a case study, while collecting data through expert interviews, reports, press articles and a transport policy review. The results of this study show that politics have been a significant challenge. The results highlight that the municipal government is best situated to address transport issues and thus rail devolution would be the most effective option for rail improvement The results do however highlight that financing of such an expensive piece of infrastructure will be a major challenge which will require careful planning and consideration. Going forward this research can inform national rail policy and the City of Cape Town's municipal transport and land use policy as well as transport and spatial development plans.

Keywords

Architecture, Planning and Geomatics

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