Transport Costs in South Africa A presentation to the CPLO roundtable on Hidden Economic Burdens Andrew Kerr DataFirst, University of Cape Town And TaxiMap

Talk outline Why I am talking today? Why transport costs are important. What does survey data tell us about commuting to work in South Africa? Costs (time and money), modes of transport and changes over time, How should we think about minibus taxis in relation to public transport?

An overview of TaxiMap work- some taxi routes in Cape Town

SA transport costs and times Post-Apartheid cities are low density, with the poor often located far from work opportunities. This is partly due to Apartheid and pre-Apartheid policies that removed black South Africans from areas closer to city centres and work opportunities. According to the 2003 National Travel Survey average commute times for black South Africans are 2.5 times longer than EU commuters and twice as long as US commuters (Stutzer and Frey, 2004 give EU and US commute times) – 37.5 mins in EU, 49 mins in US, 96 mins in SA for black commuters (60 minutes for whites). – The 2013 NTS showed that commute times for both blacks and whites had increased by a further 9 minutes. – Commuting costs are also high relative to income and function like a tax on income.

Cape Town population density map (from Ivan Turok)

City densities (from the LSE cities project)

More city densities- from LSE cities

How do people get to work? – using SA survey data.

Mode of transport highly correlated with travel time

Race and public transport usage correlated

Mode correlated with labour income quintile

Transport costs as a tax on income?

Transport costs as a tax on income? Part 2

Implications and Conclusions It is costly to travel to work in SA- partly because of spread out, low density cities. Higher Transport Costs may decrease employment if individuals search less because they can’t afford it, this will affect the poorest most. There will be higher poverty rates than usually calculated since relatively large amounts are spent getting to work and these shouldn’t be counted as household expenditure. Affordable public transport is clearly a priority but this will be expensive to provide- because of the low density of cities. There is then the question of whether this should be provided by the state (Myciti/Rea Vaya etc, new Metrorail investment) or privately (minibus taxis).

Further reading Tax(i)ing the poor? Commuting costs in South Africa, REDI working paper by me, available at If you want to get around on taxis: