Draft public transport subsidy policy recommends increasing funding to 5% of GDP

The Draft National Public Transport Subsidy Policy recommends that funding for public transport be increased from the current 0.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 5% of GDP. Compared with international trends and based on the level of public transport use in the country, South African society should not be spending more than about 7% of GDP on transport, but the draft policy argues that South African society pays about 5% more than this, or 12% of GDP, and, therefore, the 5% is the efficiency backlog of the passenger transport system.