Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) amid Informal Public Transportation in Johannesburg, South Africa

Keywords: Public Transportation, Informal Transportation, Transport Politics
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, African governments have undertaken varying urban public transportation reforms to accommodate the rapid growth of urbanization. One of the most significant has been the explosive adoption of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Africa. BRTs have been used as transportation reforms to provide more efficient and reliable public transportation in African cities as it improves existing informal public transportation. The first full BRT in Africa, the Rea Vaya BRT system in Johannesburg, South Africa, was extensively negotiated between the government and the informal transport industry. As a national policy priority, South Africa identified strategies to support greater public transportation, which led in part to the development of the Rea Vaya BRT system in Johannesburg. The system was implemented after protracted negotiations among stakeholders led to the displacement of minibus taxis (the main informal public transport in Johannesburg) on routes replaced by BRTs.
To open up new understandings of the ways in which state and non-state actors’ negotiations matter to BRT reforms, the research seeks to answer what drives BRT implementation in African cities as part of a broader research. Using fieldwork and secondary data, this study highlights the negotiations among actors that preceded the Rea Vaya BRT reform in Johannesburg, South Africa. This study helps to better understand how transportation as not only an infrastructure but a political project for reorganizing institutions in an African city.