South Africa has big shortage of intelligent transport specialists

2nd October 2015

By: Irma Venter

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

On conservative estimates, South Africa is believed to be short of between 150 and 250 intelligent transport system (ITS) engineers, technologists and technicians. This shortage exists in the private and public sectors, with the latter especially hard hit, says Intelligent Transport Society of South Africa CEO Dr Paul Vorster.

ITS describes technology applied to transport and infrastructure to share information between systems for improved safety and efficiency, such as messaging systems next to freeways, smart card payment systems and electronic signalling giving right of way to buses in bus rapid transit (BRT) systems.

A 2005 baseline study on the shortage of civil engineers, technologists and technicians, undertaken by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, showed a shortage of between 3 000 and 6 000 civil engineering professionals, says Vorster.

“When this survey was done, there were capital projects of around R200-billion on the country’s books.

“On the assumption that we roughly need two ITS engineers for every 100 civil engineers, this number translated into a shortage of between 60 and 120 ITS engineers at that time,” he notes.

“Since then, however, the capital expenditure book has grown about fivefold and transport projects have become significantly more ITS-intensive.

“The multiple BRT projects in operation are a case in point. In light of this, our estimation on the shortages in the ITS profession is not unreasonable.

“The current estimated number of ITS professionals in South Africa is between 150 and 250,” adds Vorster.

“Anecdotal evidence sourced by talking to project managers in charge of typical ITS projects as ‘work in progress’ is that they are short-staffed by 20%. This translates into an immediate shortage of about 50 to 70 ITS professionals for projects already awarded.”

The need for ITS professionals is also increasing as the transport industry globally morphs into a new guise.

Transport is moving from an old model where middle- and higher-income earners commuted almost exclusively by private vehicles, while lower-income earners commuted by bus and rail, into a new paradigm of integrated and multimodal transport for all, says Vorster.

“Transport is morphing into a paradigm where it is defined in terms of mobility as a service, and no longer as a product, where the commuter is tied in with a single or limited mode, such as a bus, train or car.

“The focus is shifting towards everyone using a mix of modes to go from origin to destination, including walking, cycling (nonmotorised transport), using taxis, ‘hail’ services such as Uber, BRT systems, park-and-ride, car sharing and the Gautrain rail system.

“A key driver of this new paradigm is the availability of semi-real-time information empowering commuters/travellers to make smart trip, route and modal choices.”

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION