Access and Constraints to Commuting for Persons with Disabilities in Gauteng Province, South Africa

Abstract

This chapter explores access and constraints to commuting for persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Gauteng province, South Africa. The argument advanced is that PWDs face subtle, peculiar and differentiated access and constraints to commuting in undertaking everyday activities and sustaining livelihood lifestyles. The study draws from a randomized sample of 1550 household surveys and inputs from captains of the transport and related industry in Gauteng province. Making use of a thematic study approach, descriptive statistics are used to explore the PWDs transport access and constraints to commuting challenges and issues. The study findings and results paint a portrait of PWDs lived public transport experiences and struggles with implications for city inclusivity. The findings and results furthermore reinforce that PWDs face access and constraints to commuting systemic challenges from a strategic, policy and operational implementation perspective. In order to convert and turn around the access and constraints to commuting for PWDs in Gauteng province, South Africa, the following are proposed: buttressing spatial efficiencies; re-aligning policy and projects priorities; redesigning existing public transport infrastructure and services; retrofitting improvements to old public transport modes, infrastructure and designs; funding, provision, access, design and sustainability of assistive technologies and devices for PWDs; universalizing the communication and sign meta-language for PWDs; strengthening governance commuting policy shifts and changes; and centring a universal and inclusive “whole of government and stakeholders” PWDs approach and philosophy in tackling commuting and non-commuting matters in Gauteng province.

Appendix

Table 2: Distance to job opportunities	Score	Table 3: Number of workers from nearby township	Score
Close—Key job site within 15 km from home	3	High—21 to 30% of overall	5
Far—Key job site within 16-30 km from home	2	Below average new jobs created	4
Very far—Key job site over 30 km from home	1	Average new jobs created	3

Table 4: Earnings quality	Score	Table 5: Labour market security	Score
High average earnings by age, sex and skill	3	High unemployment risk	3
Moderate average earnings by age, sex and skill	2	Moderate unemployment risk	2
Low average earnings by age, sex and skill	1	Low unemployment risk	1
Table 6: Quality of working environment	Score	Table 7: Strategic alignment to transition objectives	Score
High job strain/excessive job demands/insufficient resources	3	Very high alignment with more than 4 transition objectives	4
Moderate job strain/excessive job demands/insufficient resources	2	High alignment with 3–4 transition objectives	3
Low job strain/excessive job demands/insufficient resources	1	Moderate alignment with 1–2 transition objectives	2
		No alignment with transition objectives	1

Table 8: Expected Transition Impact		Table 9: Land supply	Score
Competitiveness of product/service	Score	Very high—Vacant buildable land parcels	4
Very high—very high quality at affordable price	4	High—Partially vacant buildable land parcels	3
High—high quality at affordable price	3	Moderate—Re-developable land parcels	2
Moderate—low quality at affordable price	2	Low—Constrained land parcels unsuitable for development	1
Low—low quality at high price	1
Integration with other investment projects	Score	Table 10: Demand for buildable land	Score
Very high—compliments more than 6 projects	4	Very high number of poor households in housing need	4
High—compliments 4–5 projects	3	High number of poor households in housing need	3
Moderate—compliments 2–3 projects	2	Moderate number of poor households in housing need	2
Low—compliments 1 project	1	Low number of poor households in housing need	1
Project inclusiveness	Score	Table 11: Deprivation	Score
Very high—targets more than 6 demographics	4	Well below average Index of Multiple Deprivation	1
High—targets 4–5 demographics	3	Below average Index of Multiple Deprivation	2
Moderate—targets 2–3 demographics	2	Average Index of Multiple Deprivation	3
Low—targets 1 demographic	1	Above average Index of Multiple Deprivation	4
		Well above average Index of Multiple Deprivation	5
Governance of investment project	Score
Very high—public participation in 6 project phases	4	Table 12: Service delivery/capacity	Score
High—public participation in 6 project phases	3	High—Service within dwelling/always available/safe to use	3
Moderate—public participation in 2–3 project phases	2	Moderate—Service within 100 m from dwelling/ always available/unsafe to use	2
Low—public participation in 1 project phase	1
		Low—Service over 100 m from dwelling/sometimes available/unsafe to use	1
Resource utilization in investment project	Score
Low—1 departmental unit is needed	4
Moderate—2 to 3 departmental units are needed	3	Table 13: Quality of service to users	Score
High—4 to 5 departmental units are needed	2	High customer satisfaction/willingness to pay	3
Very high—6 departmental units are needed	1	Moderate customer satisfaction/willingness to pay	2
		Low customer satisfaction/willingness to pay	1
Project resilience	Score
Very high—technical/organizational/social/economic	4	Table 14: Supply coverage within township	Score
High—meets technical/social/economic domains	3	High—Above 60% of households access reliable service	3
Moderate—meets social/economic domains	2	Moderate—30 to 60% of households access reliable service	2
Low—meets economic domain	1	Low—Below 30% of households access reliable service	1

Table 15: Access to shopping/banking/dining/postal service	Score	Table 16: Access to outstanding/good primary schools	Score
Very High—Service within 1200 m	4	Very High—Primary school within 400 m	4
High—Service within 2000 m	3	High—Primary school within 800 m	3
Moderate—Service within 4000 m	2	Moderate—Primary school within 1200 m	2
Low—Service over 4000 m away	1	Low—Primary school over 1200 m away	1
Table 17: Access to outstanding/good secondary schools	Score	Table 18: Education attainment at primary level	Score
Very High—Secondary school within 1200 m	4	Well above average Grade 7 results	5
High—Secondary school within 2000 m	3	Above average Grade 7 results	4
Moderate—Secondary school within 4000 m	2	Average Grade 7 results	3
Low—Secondary school over 4000 m away	1	Below average Grade 7 results	2
		Well below average Grade 7 results	1
Table 19: Education attainment at secondary level	Score	Table 20: Learning environment and resources	Score
Well above average Matric results	5	Adequate classrooms, textbooks, equipment, high-quality teachers	3
Above average Matric results	4	Moderate classrooms, textbooks, equipment, high-quality teachers	2
Average Matric results	3	Inadequate classrooms, textbooks, equipment, high-quality teachers	1
Below average Matric results	2
Well below average Matric results	1
Table 21: Access to doctor, clinic and pharmacy	Score	Table 22: Access to hospitals	Score
High—Doctor and amenity within 800 m	3	High—Hospital within 10 km	3
Moderate—Doctor and amenity within 1200 m	2	Moderate—Hospital within 20 km	2
Low—Doctor and amenity over 1200 m away	1	Low—Hospital over 40 km away	1
Table 23: Community participation in planning/design/ budgeting/policymaking	Score	Table 24: Community participation in project implementation	Score
High influence over decision-making	3	High No. of volunteers, attendees of project milestone-meetings	3
Moderate influence over decision-making	2	Moderate No. of volunteers, attendees of project milestone-meetings	2
Low influence over decision-making	1	Low No. of volunteers, attendees of project milestone-meetings	1

Table 25: Community participation in project monitoring and evaluation	Score
High level of community oversight/monitoring of public expenditure and project impact	3
Moderate level of community oversight/monitoring of public expenditure and project impact	2
Low level of community oversight/monitoring of public expenditure and project impact	1