Canaan Mdletshe and Mhlaba Memela

Canaan Mdletshe and Mhlaba Memela

South Africa is facing a traffic congestion dilemma and unless people start reducing their dependency on private cars, the problem would never be solved.

This was said by Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe during the launch of the Durban People Mover, a public transport initiative by the eThekwini municipality.

The municipality bought 10 buses and it plans to acquire 150 more by 2010.

Radebe said any initiative that is aimed at reducing traffic congestion in the country was welcome.

"We are faced with a huge challenge of fast-tracking the implementation of our public transport strategy," he said.

Radebe said there was a pressing need to link the public transport networks to the major long-distance stations and terminals, but also to upgrade and expand long-distance rail services.

"It is clear that by 2020, passenger movements in the cities would have doubled and traffic would have grown.

"We have invested R70billion for the development of public transport."