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Big city buildings, stadiums, different languages, mixed cultures, the beautiful ocean and various transport systems…these are some of the aspects that make Durban well recognized for its beauty and also attract a lot of tourists, but it all seems too good to be true, what we are about to reveal is the truth that lies within the streets and the gap between the transport system within Durban.

The Durban International Airport gets flights from various international airports. Various domestic services fly regularly from the airport. Within Durban the MYNAH BUS, is an everyday and reliable local bus service that carries passengers between the north and south coast beaches, the CBD and nearby suburbs. Trains and Inter-city coaches are reasonably priced and depart daily for various destinations.
Visitors to the city are advised to use conventional taxi cabs if they are going to be traveling within the city and its immediate suburbs. Like the rest of South Africa, car culture is rife in Durban and an integral component of many people’s aspirations, even if it is out of reach. The poor spend a large percentage of their income on transport between work and home. This legacy of apartheid provides one of the main challenges for the city in defining our urban spaces, and building the roads and freeways that connect them.

One of the major concerns is street trading but we accept that street trading is here to stay. We try to make it attractive to tourists but keep health standards to protect the consumer. But we have to accept that these street vendors also have to make a living and one of the biggest problems they encounter is with the transport. Since informal traders depend a lot on the 3 transport systems (Taxi, Bus & Train), they encounter problems with their sales whenever a certain transport system goes on strike e.g. Bus strike – the informal traders that are localized in areas i.e. the bus terminals, train platforms or taxi ranks suffer until the strikes end. Some of the costs are just too high for these informal traders. Many of the traders are migrants from distant rural areas, and it appears that those who live within the Metro have homes in the informal settlements. This is overwhelmingly a community of the poor, with the poorest sleeping next to their stock and their youngest children beside them.

There are informal traders operating in the Municipal region. These include traders around the Durban Station precinct there are other traders which remain along the entrance to the Warwick market area as they do not have toilets or access to clean water. There are also no lockers available to the traditional healer which compels them to sleep on their trading plots to guard their stock. Since they are enduring these unsatisfactory conditions they are not happy with the R30 monthly rental they pay to the Metro.

Some of the major concerns raised by informal traders
• Shelter at night and where they can look after their products
• Access to electricity
• Water for personal use and toilets close to the trading areas
• Secure facilities with good policing

But there is some bright light for us, Transport Minister Jeff Radebe was around recently to inspect work on the Bridge City project in Inanda. Bridge City is a multi-billion urban renewal residential project that includes an underground railway station. He said efforts to provide integrated transport would help eThekwini realize its economic potential. The Bridge City development will give KwaMashu, Inanda, Ntuzuma and Phoenix a facelift, and it brings opportunities for the people of this area.

News Team 3 - The Gap in the Transport System
Ntokozo Mnabe - 209532197
Thigan Soobramoney - 209516522