The state of transport opinion poll South Africa : a comparison of the 2012 and 2013 results (original) (raw)
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The State of Transport Opinion Poll South Africa
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South Africans believe that transport is one of the most critical issues today and is surpassed only by education and health. Public opinion plays a vital role in a democracy, but despite public participation being entrenched in the Constitution, service delivery protests seem to indicate that the government is out of touch with the needs of South Africans. In response to this, the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies (Africa), ITLS (Africa), conducted a survey of 1,000 adults across South Africa in 2012 to gauge opinions on transport issues. Interest in the inaugural State of Transport Opinion Poll resulted in the implementation of an annual survey which seeks to provide a reliable indicator of South Africans ’ ongoing attitudes towards transport. The purpose of this paper is to compare the results of the 2012 and 2013 surveys to establish current public opinion on transport matters and determine whether this is changing. The top transport issues identified by respondents w...
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South Africans are very concerned about the state of transport in the country, ranking it as their 3rd highest priority after education and health. This paper reports the results from four years of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies’ (Africa) State of Transport Opinion Poll, an annual survey of 1,000 adults across South Africa, which investigates the public’s opinions on transport matters and determines whether confidence in public transport is changing. Important indicators in the survey include transport as a national priority, the perceived highest priorities in transport, conditions of transport facilities and services, perceptions on the current and future state of transport and the state of law enforcement. The top transport issues identified by respondents were the quality, accessibility and frequencies of public transport; safety; taxi related concerns; the condition of road infrastructure and the affordability of transport. The results seem to indicate that pu...
Urban Transport XXII, 2016
Democracies require public participation and depend on having an engaged and well-informed and responsive electorate. Even though public participation is entrenched in the South African Constitution (1996), service delivery protests over recent years seem to indicate that the citizens do not believe that their concerns are being considered. Public transport policy in South Africa is currently described by a number of documents, mainly the White Paper on National Transport Policy, the National Development Plan and, more recently, the National Transport Masterplan (NATMAP). An annual survey of 1,000 South Africans is conducted to gauge opinion on transport related matters. The purpose of this paper is to consider the latest 2015 survey results and compare public opinion on urban transport with the current public transport policies and initiatives to determine the extent to which the public believe the policy objectives are being met. The results show that transport policy is relatively strongly aligned with the urban transport needs of the population however South Africans are still very concerned about the state of transport in the country, ranking it as their third highest concern after education and health. In practice, although the policies intend to address these issues, accessibility, availability, reliability, safety and affordability are not yet considered to be at satisfactory levels. The paper highlights the general public's major areas of concern regarding public transport, which should therefore be flagged as priorities by local and national government. This research makes a novel contribution in being the only annual public opinion survey (and therefore trend barometer) on transport matters in South Africa.
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