Grad School Reflections: No Metro Cards & Taxi Wars

I really enjoyed both of the assigned New York Times articles as they detailed the jarring tribulations of one of the most crowned planning solutions of our times: bus transit rapid systems. In fact, each article made me chuckle a bit. As each article retold very vivid scenarios of why planners should not and cannot operate in a vacuum in any circumstance they were also great reminders of the reality of the implementation process and the ultimate test of any project: the people.

It is quite alarming to read about the taxi wars in the greater Johannesburg metropolitan area against the newly established bus system, but it is hard to merely discount them as illicit acts of rage. In a way, the acts are understandable, because even though the BRT system solution has many positive qualities for the general good of society and it aims to promote greater social equity, in this case it also has at least one negative quality: displacement. Its existence will displace the current small business operators that own the minibus taxis that provide transportation for over 14 million South Africans. The minibus taxis owners are understandably enraged because to them this new bus system is equivalent to a new Wal-Mart store that provides exactly what they do at a much lower price that they cannot compete with.

In New York City the problem with the newly implemented BRT system along Second and First Avenue manifest itself in a slightly different way: the transition process. The transition and integration of the new system is simply not logical to customers, New Yorkers cannot understand why they cannot pay with the customary Metrocard – and I quite frankly can’t either. Especially since the New York BRT system hardly incorporates any of the other BRT characteristics such as the elevated passenger loading zone and much more exclusive lanes that have distinguished the BRT’s performance from regular bus service performance. Thus, the critiques around the new system are dominated by the dissatisfaction with the general lack of foresight in the mechanics of how riders can use the new system. From the article we get that this small detail may be enough to dissuade customers from using this great new system and may make the difference in the ultimate success of the BRT in New York City.

The scenarios presented in both New York Times articles are clear reminders that citizens still have the last word in the success of any planning idea, even if it is meant to be benevolently inclusive. The people will apply basic tests to demonstrate if it is in fact inclusive or not.  The evidence from Soweto and Johannesburg, and the streets of New York highlight different ways in which citizens may exercise their ability to make or break a planning solution as heralded as the bus transit rapid system.