Transport mobility patterns of domestic workers working in centurion, city of Tshwane
Date
2020
Authors
Duri, Babra
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Abstract
Transport needs of domestic workers are often marginalised or not considered in transport planning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the transport mobility patterns of female domestic workers working in Centurion, one of the affluent neighbourhoods in the City of Tshwane which has many gated communities. Domestic workers involved in this study are female ‘live-out’ domestic workers. A quantitative research approach was followed, and a survey of 100 participants was utilised to collect primary data of the study. The Likert scale was employed to ascertain the transport challenges that are experienced by domestic workers in commuting. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations and SPSS software package were used to analyse the data. The most common challenges for domestic workers from findings were high transport cost, lack of information on bus transport and lack of access to rail transport. The study found that the most frequently used mode of transport is minibus taxi. The results for commuting time show a degree of variation across different activities. The highest proportion of domestic workers working in Centurion spent approximately 21-40 minutes to travel to work. Most of these are from Olievenhoutbosch, a low-income housing area located in Centurion. Since they live relatively close to work, their transport times and costs were not as high as initially expected. KwaMhlanga, 102km from Centurion, is the most distant area where some respondents live, and transport costs and times are much higher than other areas. Planning, implementation and continuous monitoring of transport infrastructure and services are important to improve the quality of life of urban dwellers.
Description
A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Urban Studies in Urban Management. Johannesburg 2020