JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — Metrobus has begun trimming off-peak and midday routes in response to financial constraints, a move that former Johannesburg Transport MMC Rehana Moosajee describes as “disheartening” and indicative of a broader systemic collapse in the city’s transit infrastructure.
The decision marks the second major setback for commuters in under a year, following the suspension of Rea Vaya’s vital feeder bus services. Moosajee, who previously oversaw transport in the city, says the cuts place additional financial pressure on households already struggling in a challenging economic climate.
“This is not just a Johannesburg-specific issue,” Moosajee stated. “National Treasury together with the National Department of Transport have apparently been relooking at all of the grants for public transport and are looking to consolidate grants for public transport. Metros are being put under pressure to relook and rationalize their public transport systems.”
Moosajee emphasized that scaling down services during a period of severe household financial strain is counterproductive. “When many households are facing severe financial and economic pressure, we should be scaling up public transport rather than scaling it down,” she said.
A particular point of concern raised by Moosajee is the continued payment of approximately 92 million rands per month to an operator for Rea Vaya feeder services that have been suspended for nearly a year. “Absolutely not [is this defensible],” she said regarding the payments. “The city in question and the current leadership need to answer why they’ve taken those decisions.”
Moosajee recounted a recent experience attempting to use the Rea Vaya system with young people in a youth employment program. “On the first day we tried to use the system, the operator had suspended services. We arrived at the Rea Vaya station and the gates were closed,” she said.
She explained that Rea Vaya was designed as part of an integrated transport system with feeder, complimentary, and trunk services. “To cut the critical feeder services is really to cut the legs of the system in many ways,” Moosajee noted.
The former MMC also highlighted a disconnect between decision-makers and commuters. “What is really concerning is that most people who make these decisions are car captive. They don’t ever have to stand in a public transport queue. They don’t ever use the public transport services and they have no qualms about the challenges that it creates for commuters.”
Moosajee stressed that public transport decisions should undergo political oversight and be formalized through council resolutions. While acknowledging she owns and uses a private car, she stated she continues to use public transport whenever possible because “public transport is not just about mobility. It is about the kind of society we are aiming to build.”
She pointed to the broader implications for employment and social equity. Moosajee shared that young people in an urban farm program in Claremont face difficult mobility choices with their stipends, sometimes having to choose between cheaper rail services at unsafe hours or more expensive transport options. “It’s not just about mobility, it’s also about household income, what is affordable to households,” she said. “Many young people are actually not working because the cost of transport means that you’re working to be able to afford transport to get to work.”
Addressing governance, Moosajee acknowledged the challenge posed by the concurrent nature of the transport function across national, provincial, and local spheres. However, she argued that the current approach of cutting existing services without viable alternatives shows “a deep lack of understanding of these decisions when they are taken, what the ramifications are at the level of households, of families, of individuals, and of businesses.”
Moosajee concluded that public transport’s critical role in spatial planning, job creation, and social cohesion demands greater attention and investment, not reduction. “It is inconceivable that we continue to ignore the critical role of public transport and mobility,” she said.
