Transport
Riders of the trains
Whiteboy and Tupac are chilling on a bench in New Canada station before their usual high-octane commute to school. Whiteboy, aged 18 and in grade 11 at a former model C school in Jozi, wears a striped T-shirt, shorts and brown suede shoes. He’s smoking Dunhill Courtleigh blends. His “macala” (friend) Tupac is a year younger, with short hair, neat in school rig and black toughees (school shoes) with red laces, high as a kite on weed, with sleepy red eyes. Their excited schoolgirl fans can’t wait to see the action.
Mosa Damane
Feature | 9 April 2015
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