Gauteng is set to transform public transport across its territory though the creation of a Public Transport Authority. 'Gauteng is a unique province,' highlighted provincial Premier David Makhura. 'No other province has three metros.' Because of this concentration of major urban areas, much of the province can be described as being a City Region. In Gauteng, neither the provincial nor the city governments could operate on their own. What was required was joint governance.

'We're already a highly integrated City Region,' he affirmed. 'With regard to our cities, you can't tell where Johannesburg starts and where it ends. You can't tell where Tshwane starts and where it ends. You can't tell where Ekurhuleni starts and where it ends. We need to manage this space as a single entity. But our public transport system is fragmented. Our public transport system is inefficient, it is unreliable, it is unsafe. It is unaffordable.'

Much has, indeed, already been done, with significant investments in public transport projects such as the implementation of bus rapid transport systems in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, and further investments in the Gautrain high speed railway. But, the Premier urged, these investments need to be coordinated. He argued that the creation of a Public Transport Authority would facilitate planning, integration and ease the movement of people, especially working people, across the province. 'Public transport is not a luxury,' he pointed out. 'It is a basic need.'

Premier Makhura would like to see the creation of the Public Transport Authority in the new future. He sees the ideal for the province as being the creation of a modern, intermodal, public transport system. 'I believe we can achieve this!'
'I'm convinced that the establishment of a transport authority is something whose case has been made,' he affirmed. The means of creating and operating such an authority were still open for debate, he acknowledged. 'We need a single transport authority. The question is the modalities. Let's find a Gauteng-specific model.'

'We need to work on the precise processes towards a Transport Authority,' enthused Dr. Ismail Vadi, Member of the Executive Council for the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport. 'We desire a Transport Authority!' He noted that, in addition to the three big metropolitan cities, the province also had numerous smaller towns and all these local governments were at different levels with regard to public transport planning and implementation. The result was, in a province with major conurbations, there was a lack of cross-municipality public transport links.

'We don't want to disrupt what is working quite well,' he assured, 'but we want to build something new!' The vision for the Public Transport Authority is to create a modern, integrated, sustainable and efficient public transport and road system in the province. Its mission will be to make possible a transport system that is integrated, accessible, reliable, affordable and safe; which provide seamless mobility and is environmentally sustainable; while promoting industrialisation and radical socio-economic transformation, including the facilitation of greater equity in access to public transport.

National Transport Minister Dipuo Peters has hailed Gauteng's Public Transport Authority initiative as a 'forward looking idea.' She added that 'Gauteng province must be congratulated for not coasting on its previous accomplishments, like the Gautrain.' She noted that City Regions were the result of ëlinking arrangements' between cities. 'The Gauteng City region is the country's economic heartland.' It is also 'a beacon of South Africa's economic development'.

She also pointed out that Gauteng's approach of coordinating the transport work of its municipalities was in line with national legislation. The National Land Transport Act was being amended to make it easier for provinces and municipalities to implement such joint public transport operations.

'Public transport investment is important for both the economy and social well-being,' stressed Premier Makhura. It is also important for the environment, by reducing carbon emissions, and for industrialisation, through the local manufacture of equipment and systems. 'Public transport features very strongly ... is very key, in our province.' He also assured that the minibus taxi sector would be integrated into the province's public transport plans. 'We can't allow the Taxi industry to be left behind. If we leave the taxi industry  out, we have left half the people out!'

'We don't just want to be any other City Region,' he stated. 'We want to be a socially cohesive City Region,' benefitting the poor as well as the rich. 'We are already an Afropolitan City Region,' attracting people from across Africa. 'We want to be an ecologically sustainable City Region.'

Gauteng province recently hosted the International Conference on Transport Authorities in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni, in conjunction with UITP (International Association of Public Transport) and UATP (African Association of Public Transport). The theme of the conference was 'Transition Towards a Transport Authority: Gauteng, a Sustainable City Region on the Move'.