Transport

Commuters must organise to improve Metrorail

The Metrorail website claims that it carries up to two million passengers per day countrywide. Finding a reliable estimate of how many people commute daily using trains in the Western Cape is challenging. Estimates range from 300,000 to over 700,000. Whatever the number, a lot of people, mostly working class, depend on trains to get to and from work.

Nathan Geffen

Opinion | 19 February 2015

Delays, faults and failures: what is to be done about Metrorail?

Persistent train delays cause constant problems for Metrorail commuters. The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), which owns Metrorail, plans to fix South Africa’s ageing and poorly maintained rail infrastructure.

Kevin Elliott

News | 19 February 2015

No benefit for taxi commuters as petrol price plunges

The petrol price drops today by R1.27 a litre and the diesel price by R1.05 - but this will not mean lower fares for Cape Town’s taxi and bus passengers.

Zintle Tia Swana

News | 7 January 2015

Long day’s journey to school

The journey to school is long and tough for many pupils. Some have to travel for hours on foot to get to school. The Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) recently collected affidavits in rural KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) which were “truly incredible and devastating”.

Mary-Anne Gontsana

News | 4 December 2014

Running a vegetable shop from a wheelchair

Lulamile Witbooi lost his legs in a train accident in 1991. Today he runs the “Corner Market”, a thriving fruit and vegetable shop in Zwezwe, Khayelitsha.

Joyce Xi

News | 26 November 2014

Fines, firings and written warnings thanks to Metrorail delays

While Metrorail guards demand train tickets, a poor service leaves many commuters to face the consequences of being late.

Tariro Washinyira and Zintle Swana

News | 20 November 2014

Link between poor housing, traffic deaths and education outcomes

The 7th annual Irene Grootboom Memorial Dialogues, which explore the continuation of Cape Town’s “spatial apartheid”, are underway. On Tuesday night, the focus was on the spate of shack evictions around the city this year, and the correlation between poor, densely populated areas and traffic deaths and education outcomes.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 19 November 2014

Provincial government accuses taxi association of invading routes of legal operators

Following the beating up of a member of the Vrygrond Taxi Association (VTA) earlier this week, GroundUp asked the Western Cape Ministry of Transport and Public Works its views on the VTA.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 14 November 2014

Vrygrond taxi driver beaten at roadblock

Long running tensions between City of Cape Town traffic authorities and the Vrygrond Taxi Association boiled over into a roadside beating of a taxi driver in Muizenberg on Tuesday.

Daneel Knoetze

News | 13 November 2014