Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa

Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2019.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Venter, C.J. (Christoffel Jacobus)
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2020
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613708205686784
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Venter, C.J. (Christoffel Jacobus)
author_browse Venter, C.J. (Christoffel Jacobus)
author_facet Venter, C.J. (Christoffel Jacobus)
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2019.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/73278
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:26.265Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/73278 Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa Venter, C.J. (Christoffel Jacobus) lourensrdb@gmail.com De Beer, Lourens Retief UCTD Transportation Engineering Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-03 SDG-03: Good health and well-being Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09 SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-11 SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communities Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2019. The minibus taxi industry has grown from a modest provider of public transportation to the largest supplier to the urban public. Attempts have been made by government to regulate, integrate, and upgrade this sector but such efforts have been met with varying levels of success. Taxi drivers face immense pressure from passengers and the taxi industry to increase their performance which leads to hostile driving behaviour and often fatal accidents on the road. Transit priority measures, which are techniques used to reduce delays for buses or other forms of public transport on congested roads, have been used to advance the quality of service of buses and BRT vehicles but have not been extended to include the paratransit industry. The purpose of the study is to quantify the economic impact that these forms of infrastructure would have on minibus taxi operators, passengers, and other road users. The various forms of infrastructure were modelled to represent conditions in various parts of the city where frequent stops to load and offload passengers take place. Four alternative service options to the traditional curb-side stop were identified which included a queue-jumping lane, a queue-bypass lane, a single lane pre-signal strategy, and a dedicated minibus taxi lane. Five analytical models were developed, based on macroscopic traffic flow theory, using Excel, to gain a strategic understanding of how the benefits and costs of the infrastructure vary with different traffic conditions. It was observed that all the infrastructure alternatives result in a decrease in travel time, user cost, operating cost, and the total cost per trip for the minibus taxis. Pertaining to the car drivers, a decrease in travel time and total cost was observed because of the reduced delay due to taxi stops no longer impeding traffic. Environmentally, a reduction in harmful gas emissions was noted, particularly in the case of the minibus taxis. The single lane pre-signal strategy and the queue-jumping lane fared the best out of the five options with the lowest travel times and overall cost per hour, resulting in a decrease in total hourly cost of 56%, which consists of construction cost, user cost, and operating cost. A low-cost, commercially available drone was used to monitor the traffic behaviour of minibus taxis on a selected road segment in Pretoria in order to determine the applicability and suitability of the various infrastructure forms. It was observed that the drivers often try to cut corners and skip traffic to save time during peak traffic scenarios. In two cases driving patterns like the case modeled for the queue-jumping lane were displayed cutting time off the drivers’ trip. It was also observed that there is a shortage of infrastructure for minibus taxi operators to pick up and drop off passengers often resulting in them making informal stops that cause congestion. The time passengers save on their often-long travel distances would go a long way to redress the transportation injustices of the past. The monthly savings of over R32 000,00 per taxi driver in operating cost would serve as a subsidy to a public transportation industry currently operating unaided. It was concluded that implementing such significant changes in the public transport industry in South Africa would be equivalent to providing minibus taxi operators with much needed financial support. Centre for Transport Development Civil Engineering MEng Unrestricted 2020-02-14T11:23:39Z 2020-02-14T11:23:39Z 2020-05-05 2019 Dissertation De Beer, LR 2019, Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa, MEng Dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd <http://hdl.handle.net/2263/73278> A2020 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/73278 en © 2019 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Transportation Engineering
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-03
SDG-03: Good health and well-being
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-11
SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communities
Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa
title Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa
title_full Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa
title_fullStr Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa
title_full_unstemmed Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa
title_short Modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in Southern Africa
title_sort modelling the impact of priority infrastructure on the performance of the minibus taxi services in southern africa
topic UCTD
Transportation Engineering
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-03
SDG-03: Good health and well-being
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-09
SDG-09: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Engineering, built environment and information technology theses SDG-11
SDG-11: Sustainable cities and communities
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/73278