Housing in Southern Africa July 2015

Infrastructure & Mixed Use

Transport Development Index

T ransport for Cape Town (TCT), the City’s transport authority evaluated the accessibility and related costs of transport of different income groups across the city, as well as freight users. According to the Mayoral Com- mittee Member of Transport, Brett Herron, the index reveals how com- muters move around the city, their preferred mode of transport in terms of cost, safety, crime, flexibility and congestion. • Themajority of the population in the low income group earning less than R3 200 per month is located in remote areas and travel between 45 km to 70 kmevery day to get to work opportunities • Most commuters in the low income group live in Mitchells Plain and Khayelitsha • Residents who fall within the low- income group either use public transport or walk • Contrary to the original assump- tion that 80%of public transport users in Cape Town fall in the low and low tomedium income group, this figure is actually as high as 95%, with 48% falling in the low income group and 47% in the low tomedium income group • Low income users spend up to 45% of their monthly household income on transport, while the internation- al norm is between 5%and 10% • The highest priority cost for public transport has been identified as flexibility, which clearlymeans that there is not enough public trans- port and integration is poor • The TDI revealed that when it comes to freight, congestion adds 10% to the direct costs. Further, freight costs the City R731million per annum in relation to infra- structure and maintenance “The case for addressing the cost of transport to the lower income groups is clearly overwhelming and this is why TCT is committed to halving this cost, as well as the costs of the other user groups within the next 15 years,” said Herron. Users are defined as those using public transport, private transport, non-motorised transport suchaswalk- ing or cycling and freight users. In doing the analysis, the city was divided into 18 geographical regions

The City of Cape Town’s Transport Development Index (TDI) – the first to be developed in Africa – reveals that 95% of commuters making use of public transport in the city fall within the low and low to medium income groups. Almost R45 out of every R100 of low income earners' monthly expenses is spent on transport.

10 different freight data zones includ- ing: local deliveries, medium freight, heavy freight and long-distance freight. • The direct transport cost (fuel, sala- ries, maintenance and repairs, toll fees, etc.) for the freight user group averages R1,755 billion per annum • The cost of congestion for freight users averages R121million per annum • The cost of safety measures R19million per annum • The cost of crime is R15million per annum • The impact of freight transporters on Cape Town’s residents in terms of accidents averages R930million per annum • The direct impact of freight trans- porters on the city’s road network Following on from the TDI, the next step was to evaluate Cape Town in terms of the Arthur D Little Mobility Index that is used to measure cit- ies all over the world. Herron says, “This means that we need to invest in systems that can integrate different modes of transport and that we have to take action to decrease residents’ travel time to work.” Finally, going forward the TDI pro- vides the City with a benchmark against which TCT can measure its performance. ■ (capital expenditure andmain- tenance) costs R713million per annum

or Transport AnalysisZones (TAZs). The TDI identifies the access priorities or concerns of each user group: • The direct cost of transport: the cost to travel on public transport or a private vehicle • The cost of the increased travel time due to congestion on the city’s roads • The cost of being involved in a crime incident based on a trans- port mode (bus, taxi, private car), ranging from violent crime to pick- pocketing, theft andmuggings • The cost of being involved in a road accident and overcrowding and in- adequate facilities as far as public transport is concerned • The availability of public transport during peak hours, the choice be- tween different modes of public transport, the interchangeability between the different modes (bus, train, taxi) and the lack of an integrated payment system (one ticket) across all modes Even though the TDI is not a solution to Cape Town’s transport challenges, it identifies the problems that the dif- ferent user and income groups experi- ence on Cape Town’s roads every day. “By knowing these problems, TCT can now determine possible solutions or interventions to address these and adjust our expenditure accordingly,” said Herron. The TDI also reveals the concerns and problems of freight users across

July 2015