Longer than planned Gautrain trips limit passenger growth

[John Ashworth]

Longer than planned Gautrain trips limit passenger growth

The Gautrain system is currently carrying around 40 000 train passengers a day...

it was anticipated that the average ride length would be around 30 km...

The reality is that it is closer to 50 km...

this means the Gautrain is able to carry fewer passengers than original planning indicated...

[Derek Walker]

Methinks that they did not really do their homework properly to begin with. The fact remains it is still a mjaor pain to get to the stations which are all geared toward the northern suburbs, in some cases it is quicker to drive to the airport than get stuck in the traffic in sandton, and the parking at some stations is problematic. I have used gautrain once a week since May last year, and while the experience of using the train was great, I still had to get through a highway that was moving at walking speed to get to the station so any fuel savings were negated. The one thing that could change the numbers is the e-tolling of the highways, and I expect useage may spike when that becaomes reality. What is needed is a link out to the west rand, and one out to the South/Soweto corridor.

[John Ashworth]

Gautrain passenger numbers tick up, but below initial estimates