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UCT RESEARCH REPORT 2012
Research Project
Paratransit Operations and Regulation in Cape Town
Led by Associate Professor Roger Behrens and funded by the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations, this ongoing
project explores appropriate policies with respect to urban public transport system reform.
Public transport systems in contemporary sub-Saharan
African cities are heavily reliant upon paratransit
services. These services are typically poorly regulated
and operate as informal businesses. Common results
of weak public sector regulation, and a fare strategy
in which owners claim a fixed daily revenue target and
drivers keep the balance as income, are destructive
competition and poor quality of service. There is a
strong case for improving the quality, reliability and
coverage of public transport systems, and some city
governments have attempted to do so by initiating
reform projects that envisage the phased replacement
of paratransit operations with formalised bus rapid
transit systems. There are, however, path dependencies
and institutional and financial constraints that limit the
possible extent of reform. Paratransit operations also
have some inherent advantages with respect to demand
responsiveness and service innovation. Attempts
to eradicate paratransit may therefore be neither
pragmatic nor strategic. It is hypothesised that two
future scenarios are likely: hybrid systems comprising
both paratransit and formally planned modes, and
systems improved by upgrades and strengthened
regulation of existing paratransit services.
Using information obtained from international case
studies (e.g. Hong Kong, Jakarta, Recife, Santiago and
Quito), the project is exploring appropriate regulatory
frameworks for hybrid public transport systems
in which formal and informal services coexist in a
complementary manner. Drawing from engagement
with minibus-taxi operators in Cape Town, the project is
also uncovering the sources of paratransit resistance to
the bus rapid transit (BRT) system implementation, and
is developing an understanding of the heterogeneous
nature of paratransit operator aspirations and the
associated path dependencies these impose. The
project researchers contend that policies that recognise
paratransit, and seek contextually appropriate
complementarity with formalised planned services, will
produce greater benefits than policies that ignore their
continued existence.