Transportation infrastructure, in the region, has been moulded to a large degree by the history of the dominant cities found in the region. That said, the provision of infrastructure is crucial to the further economic development of Gauteng, especially in the face of a massive rise in the population of the province, thus, it is critical to understand the effects the current infrastructure has on travel patterns and travel times. Unfortunately, the old-and the new-political regimes of the region, used the ‘predict and provide’model of transportation design, which has the effect of enhancing road infrastructure, and thereby strengthening road transport (vehicles and trucks) above other forms of transport, rail in particular. Although investment in buses too, has been neglected, despite their dominance in the public transport sector. In this regard, the report recommends that future focus should rather be on travel demand management.

The report focuses on two main research areas:(1) An analysis of the long term transportation trends by comparing four transport studies, the 1975 PWV Survey; the 1985 PWV survey; the 2000 Gauteng Transport Study and the 2003 National Household Travel Survey and (2) Analysis of the results of the 2009 Quality of Life study undertaken by the GCRO. The 1975 and 1985 surveys were racially skewed and so some degree of apprehension must be used when interpreting the results. With regards to the 2009 QoL study, there are limitations to it, as it was not specifically designed as a transport survey. The 2009 QoL survey also has data capturing errors. Demographic skewness is marked, in terms of race, age and education levels. That said, there is a strong corroboration between all five surveys.