Towards evening paratransit services to complement scheduled public transport in Cape Town: A driver attitudinal survey of alternative policy interventions

Cities across the Global South are seeking to improve public transport services, but the presence of large numbers of independent paratransit operators complicate reforms. City officials often seek to eliminate paratransit services in favor of scheduled services; but such reforms have proven impossible to achieve. Cape Town is one such city, whose planning officials are now reconsidering the approach to ‘industry transition’. Realizing that the transition and operating costs of new scheduled services are unsustainable, the City has acknowledged a continued role for paratransit services. The question this raises is how paratransit should be integrated and, more specifically, how paratransit should complement scheduled services at transfer points. This paper reports on findings from a stated choice survey administered to paratransit drivers to understand opinions on potential reforms that the City might use to address issues of mismatched service span and long off-peak headways in service provided by paratransit operators. The research seeks to assist operators in sharing their perspectives outside of a City-structured engagement process and to assist City officials in understanding what reform paths will be most feasible based on driver acceptability and cost to the City. Results show that alternatives to the corporatization of paratransit services are viable and appear to be more affordable.