TRANSPORT

in Philippi


Residents of Philippi Township, like other townships in Cape Town, rely heavily on public transport because not many of them own cars and Philippi is located about 20 kilometres from downtown Cape Town and even further from other suburbs where many township residents work. Their livelihood depends on inexpensive and dependable public transport, which has still not been fully achieved under the new government.

Rail Transport in theTownships

The rail transport is the most transport that is being used by the people of  Philippi Township. It is affordable and has safety for the passengers. Metro Rail considers the followings:

· Security check: Metro Rail security services are responsible for the safety of the commuters, and they check that the trains are in the good condition and there are no broken windows and other stuff.  They give their full protection to the Metro Rail property and the passengers. They are doing this with the view that they want to achieve the following goals:

  •   Reduce the rate of crime in public transports 

  •  Safety and healthy environment to the passengers and

  •  Create a climate of order.

Integration of public transport

Metro Rail is the one of the most transports in building the sense of combining or integrating the various modes of public transport: rail, bus, and taxis. In this project the are various aims that they need to obtain.

Their main goal is to establish a:

                                          · Streamlined

                               · Seamless

                               · Sustainable                                                                            A metro rail train

                               · Friendly

                               · Safe operation

The improvement of rail transport

A key challenge is to improve the rail transport in the Western Cape since so many commuters from Philippi and other townships use it.  Railway trains must be improved because of the growing numbers of commuters and concerns about their safety.

Upgrading of trains

Metro Rail is going to establish some changes concerning the commuters:

·        Carriages for disabled passengers

·        Each carriage will have an alarm

·        Emergency doors and carriages

·        Improvement of  security

Metro Rail has re-allocated resources or alternatively developed innovative and effective solutions to counter rail crime.

The Rail Safety Education

The rail safety programme is designed to improve the awareness of the risk associated with rail and rail traffic, and this has been done in every station including Philippi.             

Artist's View of Train Station. Linoprint by Patrick Holo, a township artist.

Bus Transport: Golden Arrow Buses

  Golden Arrow buses help to fill in the public transport network by taking commuters from Philippi to jobs elsewhere in the city.  Here is one driving down Symphony Way, one of Philippi's main traffic arteriie

                                    

 

Travel by Taxis in the Townships

The taxis are owned by the people who are unable to get jobs so they "self-employed" themselves. This has resulted in creation of  more jobs. Most taxis are "mini-buses" that are also called "kombis."  They can carry 12 or more passengers.  In the large taxi industry there are two groups                                   

 (I) Codeta                                                                                                                   A "minibus" or "kombi"

 (II) Cata  

In the beginning there was only one group, WEBTA, but because of different opinions about the operation of the taxis they ended up splitting into two groups. This formation of these two group caused a lot of problems because when they disagree they sometimes fight.  In those fights only three taxi drivers may be killed, but many more innocent people are killed. As time passed another taxi group was formed known as  “AMAPHELA“ (Cockroaches). These are the small taxis or "mini-taxis" that run within the townships each and every day. Amaphela are very helpful to these poor communities, and they are affordable to each and everyone in the Township.

On the side of tourism the taxis has played a big role because they take tourists around the township. This is becoming big business.  

An artistic view of the taxi ranks where people wait for minibus taxis.

In Philippi Township there is car wash (small enterprise) that is used by those "cockroaches" (mini taxes), the reason that this small enterprise occur it’s because some of the owners cannot afford to wash their Mini taxis in an expensive place, so they prefer to have their cars washed by township car washers, such as Philippi Car Wash. The car wash that is located in the T-junction in Philippi Township is more useful and affordable to them (taxi drovers). Each car is charged R15  to be washed. Their service is run as follows :

                                                      

Ø Business hours: 6am-8pm                        

Ø Polishing tyres: R5             

Ø Pumping tyres: R4

Ø Car wash: R15 

 

These mini taxes drivers they awake early in the morning 5am and picking up people inside the Township, because most of them are going to work earlier in the morning. 

Examples of mini-taxis ("cockroaches")  

Private Cars in Philippi

This lucky family is one of the small number in Philippi to own their own car:

 

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