Understanding public transport needs in Cape Town’s informal settlements: A Best-Worst-Scaling approach

Abstract

A poor understanding of the needs of people living in informal settlements has often resulted in these needs being assumed and misunderstood due to the lack of proper public consultation or participation. Because of this, South Africa’s transport sector, and by extension many other public sectors, faces various challenges. Knowing that public transport is the dominant mode of transport in informal settlements, a better understanding of its challenges as experienced by its commuters is essential for the development of informal settlement upgrading policies. The research in this paper uses Best-Worst-Scaling (BWS) – part of the family of discrete choice models – as a survey and analysis tool for rating and ranking public transport-related challenges of 290 randomly selected commuters from six different informal settlements in Cape Town. The most important features deduced from the public transport experience (PTE) study include (1) Walking Safety, (2) Personal Safety, (3) Unsafe Driving, (4) Overcrowding and (5) Walking Distance. There is no apparent trend in the variance between the choices of men and women. However, there is a significant variance of choices across the respective locations, and – for most attributes – between mode users. This suggests that, with respect to public transport infrastructure upgrading, contextual factors, determined by one’s environment, dominate experiences and perceptions, rather than socio-demographic factors.