|
Durban has a broad
transportation sector including private
transport, public transport, air transport and
shipping. Bicycles are hardly used probably as a
result of the steep hills and hot humid climate.
Walk trips are an unknown quantity, but are
probably minimal except in conjunction with
public transport use.
Growing transportation needs
Durban's people
transportation needs are primarily driven by the
following factors:
|
Distance between home
and other places visited determine the distance required
to be travelled
|
High density residential
settlements are located on the periphery of the
city but the bulk of the work opportunities are
located in the city core. People therefore need
to travel long distances to work - 20 kilometers
on average.
|
|
Population size
determines the number of trips taken |
Durban has an estimated
population of 2,5 million. The city has
experienced rapid population growth in the past.
However the effect of AIDS is likely to result
in minimal population growth over the next 15
years.
|
|
Income levels determine
the type of transport used |
About 60% of Durban's
residents (1,5 million) have low incomes. This
creates a heavy dependence on public
transport
|
The Durban Metropolitan
Area has a well-developed major road
infrastructure, although with a considerable
number of missing links. Traffic routes consist
of some 200 route kilometres
(km) of freeway type
road, 200 km of dual carriageway
arterials, 170 km of single
carriageway multi-lane arterial and 80 km of
one-way streets. Traffic control includes over
500 signalised intersections.
Over the years less priority has been given to
funding road building and maintenance, and a
shortage of funds is resulting in a gradual
deterioration of the road network.
The road system is carrying increasing
traffic volumes with the passage of time, and
portions of the route are subject to peak hour
queues with delays steadily increasing. Although
coping better than most overseas cities of
similar or larger size, road user cost is a
major resource cost to the country and this is
increased markedly by congestion. Current road
network user costs are in the region of R3
million per peak hour, which converts to R7,5
billion per year. Removal of delays could reduce
this by up to one third.
1) PRIVATE TRANSPORT
| High
Income |
1 car
per 2 people |
| Medium
Income |
1 car
per 4 people |
| Low
Income |
1 car
per 30
people |
A total of about 400 000 cars are
owned by Durban residents. Of these, about 160
000 are owned by high income residents, 190 000
by medium income residents and 50 000 by low
income residents.
Growth in the rate of car ownership
tends to follow a logistic curve in
stable communities. The medium income population
in Durban is in a rapid growth phase of car
ownership whereas the ownership rate of high
income people is levelling off. Car ownership
rates among low income people is rising more
slowly than expected. This is possibly due to
the higher risk of owning a car in low income
areas due to crime, the poor road infrastructure
in such areas and the ready access to public
transport.
On average, two people travel in each car in
Durban which is relatively high compared to
other cities. Traffic volumes are, however,
steadily increasing with an average growth rate
of 5,3% per year recorded between 1983 and 1993.
Some high capacity routes experienced higher
growth rates that these e.g.the N3, a six lane
freeway, had a groth of 9.3% per year over the
same period. As a result of the traffic
volume increase, congestion is steadily
increasing on popular routes. It is, however,
still substantially less that most overseas
cities of comparable size.
2) PUBLIC TRANSPORT
Public Transport
Usage
| High
Income |
5% use
public transport |
| Medium
Income |
25%
use public transport |
| Low
Income |
90%
use public
tranport |
Low
income residents are almost entirely dependent
on public transport to move around the city.
Public
transport provides about 56% of all commuter trips
in the city during peak periods, and consists
primarily of trains, buses and minibus taxis.
Commuter rail is operated by the parastatal
Transnet over a rail network of 278 kilometres.
This serves the coastal plain and several high
density residential areas. The line from KwaMashu
through Durban to Umlazi is the
busiest line. The popularity of commuter
rail has been declining for several years and
there is significant spare capacity in the
system.
Bus services are run by 194
operators of which 5 are subsidised services and
use about
900 buses. The largest operator, Durban Transport, has 670
buses. Services are concentrated towards the
Durban CBD where as many as a third of the
passengers transfer to another vehicle. The use
of buses is also declining.
Minibus taxi services have flourished in
Durban over the last ten years drawing
passengers form rail
and bus services. They are unsubsidised and service
all areas of the city. There is intense
competition for routes which often reverts to
violence. Operators are organised into area associations but
regulation and administration are inadequate in practice.
| Public Transport
Mode |
No. of
Vehicles |
Capacity |
% of Peak Period
Passengers
|
| Rail |
61 trains |
116 000 |
20% |
| Buses |
1 564 buses |
140 000 |
40% |
| Minibus Taxi |
10 000 vehicles |
140 000 |
40% |
The following graph indicates the Peak Period
Mode Proportions of Person Trips
3) FREIGHT TRANSPORT
Freight is being increasingly
transported by road instead of rail. In 1994 about 20% of the
total tonnage of land-based freight was moved by rail, a 10%
decrease from its 30% share the previous year. This is
resulting in increasing numbers of heavy vehicles travelling
through Durban. The N3 between Durban and Johannesburg
averages 3 000 freight vehicles a day. The recently improved
N2 between Durban and Richards Bay is experiencing rapid
growth in freight traffic. Law enforcement against overloading
has improved significantly but the increase in road freight
haulage to and from Durban continues to affect people and
infrastructure of the area.
4) AIR TRANSPORT
Durban's International Airport,
located 14km south of the city centre in the South Industrial
Basin, handled some 36 000 aircraft movements a year carrying
2 350 000 passengers. About 7% of these are on international
flights. These figures are from 1997/98 and patronage has
shown a steady increase of 5% per year. There is a widely
supported proposal to develop a new international airport at
La Mercy 30km north of the city centre.
Durban also has a general aviation airport at
Virginia 10km north of the city centre. This
currently handles some 6 000 aircraft movements
a year catering for 5 000 passengers. The
airport is used extensively for pilot training
in helicopters and fixed wing aircraft.
5) SHIPPING
Durban is the busiest port on the African
continent handling two thirds of South
Africa's imports. Durban Port extends over
some 1 850 hectares and provided 57 shipping
berths in 1997, serviced by 21 terminals. During
1997 some 5 500 ships used the port carrying
over 30 million tonnes of cargo. A dedicated car
export and import terminal was recently opened
and is handling over 50 000 cars a year.
Container operations at the Durban Port have
almost doubled since 1990 and in 1997 approached
1 million container movements. This has resulted
in plans to expand the container operation
capacity of the port and upgrade other port
facilities.
Durban port offers shippers a full range of
berthing, cargo handling, repairs, victualling
and bunkering facilities. Special purpose quays
are provided for handling grain, coal, chemical
and petroleum products, general and unitised
cargo and containers. The government-owned
authority, Portnet, operates the passenger,
container, roll-on-roll-off, breakbulk and
timber terminals, while the private sector
operates terminals for coal, paper, grain,
sugar, citrus, bulk liquids, dry bulk and
granite. |
