The new place I moved into has exactly what you said, burglar bars on the windows (even though it's a couple stories up) and barbed wire fencing. And it looks minimal compared to all the electric fencing and alarm systems around it on other properties and apartment buildings
Basically every rich suburb is a gated community now, though you're still allowed to drive though, just get stopped at the gates for a few seconds. The poorer suburbs can't really have that, so they have community watch/policing forums and stuff.
Since you're here, could you try and explain the South African commuter rail system to me, or at least get me a few schedules? Metrorail looks like it has the potential to be really good, but I would guess that it's held back by a great deal of racism. The online schedules are justdreadful and I'd love to know what the service is actually like. South Africa actually has a pretty decent rail network by the looks of things but it's hard to find info about it.
Welcome to South African government websites! Some of the worst things invented in history.
Metrorail is slow, overcrowded, and effected by corruption, lack of investment, sabotage, arson and vandalism and poor maintenance. The trains are often late, and people feel unsafe using them, it can be dangerous at times with regards to crime. It says a lot that people will prefer to take minibus taxis than the trains, if they can afford it.
The nice trains, like the Gautrain, are way too expensive for your average South African.
The rail network is decent but massively underfunded and gutted by austerity and corruption, so everything is transported by truck, which destroys the roads and highways.
Obviously the structural racism of apartheid has never been properly addressed, you'll almost never see a white person take a metro train or ride a minibus taxi, these services are unofficially maligned for poor black South Africans
I think the schedules were last updated in 2012? I thought these websites were unofficial sites, goddamn are they terrible.
Is there any part of the suburban rail system that runs a bit like a metro, i.e. trains every 10-15 minutes all day? Thanks for commenting, I'm always trying to expand my railway knowledge.
Gautrain could probably be a post unto itself. It's a little bit easier to research but the quick answer is that it's the rich people train. Please feel free to talk more about South African railways on c/urbanism, a community that I hoped would be about sharing cool train/transit facts and pics but has just turned into a repost circlejerk.
Is there any part of the suburban rail system that runs a bit like a metro, i.e. trains every 10-15 minutes all day?
Pretty much only the Gautrain if I remember correctly This is the schedule. And no midnight or early morning trains.
Gautrain is the rich people train, and it's definitely not utilised as much as it should be, because a lot of rich folks prefer driving their fancy cars. And it's only in one province really, between an airport and two cities. As to why we only have this, well, we're broke and very corrupt. Without the 2010 FIFA world cup, we probably wouldn't even have the Gautrain. Public transportation situation is really bad, that's why the minibus taxi mafia is king.
Yes 100%.
The new place I moved into has exactly what you said, burglar bars on the windows (even though it's a couple stories up) and barbed wire fencing. And it looks minimal compared to all the electric fencing and alarm systems around it on other properties and apartment buildings
Basically every rich suburb is a gated community now, though you're still allowed to drive though, just get stopped at the gates for a few seconds. The poorer suburbs can't really have that, so they have community watch/policing forums and stuff.
Since you're here, could you try and explain the South African commuter rail system to me, or at least get me a few schedules? Metrorail looks like it has the potential to be really good, but I would guess that it's held back by a great deal of racism. The online schedules are just dreadful and I'd love to know what the service is actually like. South Africa actually has a pretty decent rail network by the looks of things but it's hard to find info about it.
Welcome to South African government websites! Some of the worst things invented in history.
Metrorail is slow, overcrowded, and effected by corruption, lack of investment, sabotage, arson and vandalism and poor maintenance. The trains are often late, and people feel unsafe using them, it can be dangerous at times with regards to crime. It says a lot that people will prefer to take minibus taxis than the trains, if they can afford it.
The nice trains, like the Gautrain, are way too expensive for your average South African.
The rail network is decent but massively underfunded and gutted by austerity and corruption, so everything is transported by truck, which destroys the roads and highways.
Obviously the structural racism of apartheid has never been properly addressed, you'll almost never see a white person take a metro train or ride a minibus taxi, these services are unofficially maligned for poor black South Africans
I think the schedules were last updated in 2012? I thought these websites were unofficial sites, goddamn are they terrible.
Is there any part of the suburban rail system that runs a bit like a metro, i.e. trains every 10-15 minutes all day? Thanks for commenting, I'm always trying to expand my railway knowledge.
Gautrain could probably be a post unto itself. It's a little bit easier to research but the quick answer is that it's the rich people train. Please feel free to talk more about South African railways on c/urbanism, a community that I hoped would be about sharing cool train/transit facts and pics but has just turned into a repost circlejerk.
Pretty much only the Gautrain if I remember correctly This is the schedule. And no midnight or early morning trains.
Gautrain is the rich people train, and it's definitely not utilised as much as it should be, because a lot of rich folks prefer driving their fancy cars. And it's only in one province really, between an airport and two cities. As to why we only have this, well, we're broke and very corrupt. Without the 2010 FIFA world cup, we probably wouldn't even have the Gautrain. Public transportation situation is really bad, that's why the minibus taxi mafia is king.
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