Removing excess road use and improving efficiencies on South Africa's roads seems to be the most viable option to reducing the transport sector's carbon emissions in the short term.

Transport is the fastest growing emitter of greenhouse gases in South Africa, contributing to about one-fifth of the country's emissions, second only to its dependence on coal-fired power stations.

In addition to the negative environmental effects, the excessive use of the country's roads also has a negative economic impact, with about R15-million a day lost due to congestion.

Speaking at a World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) future of transport convention in Johannesburg, Transport Deputy Minister Jeremy Cronin said that the country was suffering from a dysfunctional and inefficient transport system, brought on mainly by urban sprawl.

Urban sprawl has led to a number of challenges, including overexaggerated peaks. "Large fleets are needed to move people to and from work, while this fleet is then left idle afterwards. Consequently, government finds it difficult to sweat its assets, such as the 800 new Rea Vaya buses that were recently brought onstream."

The Department of Transport (DoT) currently spends over R7-billion to subsidise the public transport systems.

Nevertheless, South Africans are still saddled with an expensive transport system, mainly owing to the long distances that people need to travel. Discouraged work seekers have highlighted the cost of transport as the number-one reason for giving up on finding an employment opportunity.

Also, even with the fundamental strides that had been achieved in rolling out the necessary infrastructure support for public transport during the FIFA World Cup period, South Africa still has a long way to go before an adequate system would be in place to reach the different economic classes in the country.

South Africans, especially middle-class users, are largely still dependent on the use of private vehicles. In fact, the country has become so reliant on the use of private vehicles that a household with an average income of R3 000 a month will be looking to buy a car.

"We need to make it more expensive for people and freight to use their cars and trucks on the roads and move them onto other modes of transport," Cronin said.

He acknowledged that a viable transport alternative would be required, which would take significant investment to put in place.

Cronin said that the absence of significant investment over the last 30-plus years had lead to the degradation of the country's rail system. "It will cost us more to refurbish the system than to recapitalise it and procure new systems."

Cronin told Engineering News Online that the recapitalisation would take place in stages over the next 18 years. The department, together with the Department of Public Enterprises, is currently considering a number of options to fund such a significant spend, including making use of leasing systems.

"The recapitalisation will have a strong local focus in terms of procurement and manufacturing of the fleet and technologies, unlike the construction of the Gautrain system. We hope to put out tenders as early as next year," he said.

Commenting on the Gauteng toll road system to be implemented in 2011, which will charge motorists 50c for every kilometre travelled on the province's highways, Cronin said that these costs could be mitigated by making use of the Gautrain, especially the route between Johannesburg and Pretoria.

"We also hope to encourage other initiatives such as making use of lift clubs, encouraging markets for new forms of public transport and encouraging other existing services such as the Metrorail business class route that has already experienced a pick up in numbers."

Stellenbosch University department of industrial engineering's Tanya Lane agreed with the DoT's view, saying that extensive studies of South Africa's transport system has shown that measures to remove the excess use within the system were preferred to those that required new infrastructure investment and radical thinking in the short term.

However, Lane emphasised that it was still important for South Africa, as a developing economy, to invest in infrastructure, and more specifically in green infrastructure.

"Spending money on infrastructure has shown to be the most effective way to boost an economy. However, countries concerned with alleviating poverty cannot simply consider gross domestic product as a measure of growth, but should also consider the long-term implications of infrastructure build, which is where the investment in green infrastructure becomes important."

South African Transport and Allied Workers Union research and policy head Jane Barrett concurred, saying that more jobs were created through public transport interventions and infrastructure investments than in any other sector.

She also noted that South Africa, as Africa's biggest contributor of greenhouse gases, had a responsibility to move into a greener transport space.

"Global warming is not something of the future, it is already with us and usually affects the poorest of communities. The earth has already warmed by 0,6 °C since preindustrial levels and if left unchecked, could result in an economic crisis equal to the combined effects of the two World Wars and the Great Depression," warned Barrett.

Cronin concluded with the notion that a sustainable and greener transport system paired with more integrated planning with other sectors such as housing was integral to moving the country's society onto a more equitable long-term development path.