Low-paid Joburg workers face ‘transport poverty’ crisis

Transport costs for residents of low-income households in Johannesburg have reached a crisis point, with new data showing they are spending even more now to move around the city.

A report released last month by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory highlights sharp spatial and income inequalities, particularly in Johannesburg, where residents living on the city’s outskirts face the heaviest burden. The further people live from major employment centres, the more of their income is spent on commuting.

The “Suffocating Cost of Transport in the Gauteng City-Region” report has revealed that residents in some parts of the city and province are spending as much as 40% to 50% of their income on transport, far above the government’s policy benchmark of 10%.

Speaking to Our City News, co-author of the report, Dr Lavel Naidoo said: “Government and legislative bodies can increase public transport subsidies, especially for the taxi industry; and improve the integration of different modes of transport to lower operational costs (single ticket but multi-modal transport options),” he said.

Government and legislative bodies can increase public transport subsidies, especially for the taxi industry; and improve the integration of different modes of transport to lower operational costs (single ticket but multi-modal transport options)
— Dr Lavel Naidoo, Our City News

According to the report, the average resident spends about 29% of their income on transport. In central areas of Johannesburg, where jobs and services are concentrated, people spend between 10% and 20%. But in peripheral regions such as Orange Farm, Diepsloot, Ivory Park and parts of Soweto, that figure rises dramatically, in some cases surpassing 40%.

For many workers, the cost has become unbearable.

Hope Chila from Dlamini, Soweto, spends R650 a month on bus coupons to travel to work in Sandton, and the cost has since increased by about R200 since he began working in 2022.

The cost goes up to R1,500 a month if he uses a minibus taxi.

Joy Sebanda, a teacher from Boksburg, said it costs her R2,750 to travel to work in Rosebank and says the fees have become unbearable.

Lindiwe Nkosi, who commutes from Alexandra to a retail job in the Pretoria CBD, said: “I spend R90 a day just on taxis to get to work and back, that is almost R2,000 a month before food, before rent. Sometimes I think about quitting because it does not make sense anymore. On top of that, I leave home at 5am and return after 8pm, spending nearly three hours in traffic each day. We work just to travel.”

Nkosi’s experience is typical of how Johannesburg’s spatial and economic divides translate into “transport poverty”, the report notes.

The city’s layout reflects apartheid-era planning, which placed low-cost housing on cheap land far from jobs and services. That legacy, the report noted, has locked working-class households into long and expensive commutes.

“The further one lives from economic opportunity, the higher the cost of mobility,” the report states.

Naidoo stated that solving transport poverty needs a dual approach from local and provincial governments.

“Cheaper transport is paramount for the poor, but if people are still travelling long distances to work and back, costs will ramp up. Better land-use planning is key to bringing jobs closer to the people. Proper social mobility needs to happen to integrate different income classes in job-rich areas,” said Naidoo.

The report also highlights an imbalance between transport modes. Minibus taxi users, the majority of public transport commuters spend an average of 33% of their income on transport. Car users spend a similar share, 32%, but the impact is vastly different.

Nearly three-quarters of taxi users come from households earning less than R6,400 a month, compared with only 17% of car users. This means that poorer residents pay proportionally far more of their limited income to access work and services. — Additional reporting Koena Mashale