Civil Engineering October 2021 | Vol 29 No 9

Civil Engineering October 2021 21 Q Q Receive support from education or research institutions and/or transport planning consultants, sponsored by the provincial or national DoT. Looking after a relatively large area with multiple municipalities, these transport planning entities would be responsible for producing multiple ITPs, each in a five- year cycle. In doing this repeatedly, they will retain and enhance their capabilities, improving the quality of these planning documents. As other transport functions (provision of operating licences and subsi- dised bus contracts) are already at provin- cial level, it would ensure short communi- cation lines, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning functions. As a result, the quality of PT services will improve, better supporting passengers. DEVELOPING LOCAL CAPABILITIES To safeguard local knowledge in the ITPs, municipal staff needs to be invited for regular workshop sessions by these provincial transport planning entities, to perform their transport planning tasks (as an acting transport planning authority) and to build capabilities (as a provincial transport academy). Once the capacity building process has materialised, the transport planning functions could be further devolved. It is likely that this will first happen for the smaller metros and the larger district municipalities, while for the smaller rural municipalities the provincial entities might need to retain their coordinating role for somewhat longer. The result of an ITP produced in this way will be, among others, a prioritised list of infrastructure projects to facilitate road traffic and PT operations – road upgrade and maintenance programmes, taxi ranks, bus stops, etc. As the coordi- nation is at provincial level, budgets can be allocated effectively. These projects can be implemented by the municipalities, requiring similar engineering and con- tractual skills as required for delivering other infrastructure projects, and include local participation. These infrastructure programmes would also provide the necessary budgets to run the municipal infrastructure departments. CONCLUSION: SUPPORTIVE PROVINCIAL TRANSPORT PLANNING ENTITIES In conclusion, the required functions on (public) transport policy, planning and implementation (as per the NLTA) are best performed as follows: Q Q Development of transport legislation, policy and regulations should remain at national level Q Q The bigger metropolitan municipali- ties can function as transport authori- ties, responsible for all planning and implementation. They should have all tasks devolved to them, including pas- senger rail transport, subsidised buses, and issuing of operating licences Q Q As most municipalities are not yet ready to become transport authorities, provincial transport planning entities must assist in the responsibilities for (public) transport planning and coor- dination. This is also where training could be intensified to build capacity for the benefit of all municipalities Q Q Municipalities must be responsible for the implementation of transport infrastructure projects. Over-time, as capabilities increase, some of the smaller metros and larger districts can become independent transport au- thorities, with the provincial planning functions effectively devolved. When transport functions are developed by the lowest competent level of govern- ment, the quality of planning improves, as does the quality of (public) transport itself, ultimately benefiting the passengers. The NLTA caters for this intervention, and we urge the Minister of Transport to address it. REFERENCES Republic of South Africa. 2009. National Land Transport Act. No.5 of 2009. Government Gazette. Lawless, A. 2005. Numbers and Needs in Local Government. SAICE. Lawless, A. 2016. Numbers and Needs in Local Government – Update 2015. IMESA. Competition Commission. 2020. Land based public passenger transport sector market inquiry. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank Logan Moodley (ex eThekwini Transport Authority), A.Z. Soko (Eastern Cape DoT), Bongani Kupe (consultant), Roger Behrens (University of Cape Town), Ofentse Mokwena (North-West University) and Muhammed Lokhat (law student) for their critical feedback while discussing our thoughts. When transport functions are developed by the lowest competent level of government, the quality of planning improves, as does the quality of (public) transport itself, ultimately benefiting the passengers