- A Critical Examination of Public Transport: A Case Study of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa    770 kb by    Toba, Lindelwa & Campbell, Maléne & Phillip Lesia &, Danie Schoeman | campbemm@ufs.ac.za    Short Outline In pre and post-apartheid South Africa, public transport is a critical issue. The problem is that the provision of public transport facilities is limited and inconvenient. A survey was conducted to determine satisfaction among current public transport commuters in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality. Abstract Public transport in South Africa has always been a critical issue, both during and after apartheid. The poor integration between land use and transportation due to apartheid policies is still visible. In Mangaung 70% of the population cannot afford their own private cars. 66,4% of people living in South African metropolitan areas earn less than 3 000 ZAR (283 €) per month, while the figure is 72% in other urban areas. Thus most commuters using public transport come from disadvantaged communities still trapped in poverty. The problem is that, to them, the provision of public transport facilities is limited and inconvenient while the long hours commuters spend on the roads are also a concern. The challenge facing transportation is land management in transport planning; a dilemma facing policy makers who have the responsibility to allocate land for the ever-increasing residential demand while integrating both transportation and residential land uses. According to Litman (2005), transportation affects land use and vice versa. Land-use planning decisions have a great impact on transportation needs, car ownership and public viability (Frieslaar & Marks, 2007). Therefore, it is important to coordinate transportation and land-use planning decisions so that they can complement each other. Designing a sustainable transportation system is one of the most pressing issues faced by modern cities (Kennedy et al., 2005). Primary and secondary data have been collected for the purpose of this study. Secondary data from the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, as well from as the National Households Travel Survey of 2003 in South Africa have been collected to determine the current state of public transport. Quantitative primary data derived from the 998 questionnaires were served randomly to commuters, selected purposively, in the City of Bloemfontein. The purpose of the survey was to determine satisfaction among commuters. Keywords transportation, public transport, land use Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2012: Fast Forward: Planning in a (hyper) dynamic urban context   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper