The opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in South Africa
Background: Transport affordability is a significant concern for South African households, who spend nearly a fifth of their budgets on transport. Contributing factors include a lack of affordable public transport options and spatial mismatch. Since 2015, stagnating national budgets and a declining...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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AOSIS
2024-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management |
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| Online Access: | https://jtscm.co.za/index.php/jtscm/article/view/1081 |
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| author | Mienke Knipe Stephan Krygsman |
| author_facet | Mienke Knipe Stephan Krygsman |
| author_sort | Mienke Knipe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Transport affordability is a significant concern for South African households, who spend nearly a fifth of their budgets on transport. Contributing factors include a lack of affordable public transport options and spatial mismatch. Since 2015, stagnating national budgets and a declining share allocated to the transport portfolio have exacerbated household transport expenses, limiting economic mobility.
Objectives: This article examines how changes in household transport expenses impact other essential expenses such as food, housing, clothing, recreation and education. Understanding these expenditure trade-offs provides insights for policy, especially as the National Public Transport Subsidy Policy is being prepared.
Method: Using data from the Living Conditions Survey of 2014/2015, the study applies fractional logit regression models to estimate the impact of varying household transport expenses on other expenditure categories across diverse household demographics.
Results: Findings indicate that increased household transport expenses significantly reduces allocations to essential items, notably food and housing, with the effects varying by income level, settlement type, and household composition.
Conclusion: A core recommendation is to reduce transport expenses for low-income households through government intervention as this will increase these, mostly previously disadvantaged households’, economic mobility.
Contribution: Results show that if low-income households allocate no more than 10% of their expenditure budgets to transport, they could potentially increase their expenditure share on food (+1.30%) housing (+1.18%) clothing (+0.86%) recreation (+0.31%) and education (+0.08%). |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-375c4ef8b700417c94fb8e46eaae1639 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2310-8789 1995-5235 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-12-01 |
| publisher | AOSIS |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management |
| spelling | doaj-art-375c4ef8b700417c94fb8e46eaae16392025-08-20T01:58:41ZengAOSISJournal of Transport and Supply Chain Management2310-87891995-52352024-12-01180e1e1010.4102/jtscm.v18i0.1081372The opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in South AfricaMienke Knipe0Stephan Krygsman1Department of Logistics, Faculty of Economic Management Sciences, Stellenbosch University, StellenboschDepartment of Logistics, Faculty of Economic Management Sciences, Stellenbosch University, StellenboschBackground: Transport affordability is a significant concern for South African households, who spend nearly a fifth of their budgets on transport. Contributing factors include a lack of affordable public transport options and spatial mismatch. Since 2015, stagnating national budgets and a declining share allocated to the transport portfolio have exacerbated household transport expenses, limiting economic mobility. Objectives: This article examines how changes in household transport expenses impact other essential expenses such as food, housing, clothing, recreation and education. Understanding these expenditure trade-offs provides insights for policy, especially as the National Public Transport Subsidy Policy is being prepared. Method: Using data from the Living Conditions Survey of 2014/2015, the study applies fractional logit regression models to estimate the impact of varying household transport expenses on other expenditure categories across diverse household demographics. Results: Findings indicate that increased household transport expenses significantly reduces allocations to essential items, notably food and housing, with the effects varying by income level, settlement type, and household composition. Conclusion: A core recommendation is to reduce transport expenses for low-income households through government intervention as this will increase these, mostly previously disadvantaged households’, economic mobility. Contribution: Results show that if low-income households allocate no more than 10% of their expenditure budgets to transport, they could potentially increase their expenditure share on food (+1.30%) housing (+1.18%) clothing (+0.86%) recreation (+0.31%) and education (+0.08%).https://jtscm.co.za/index.php/jtscm/article/view/1081transport expenditurehousehold expendituretransport subsidisationtransport justicemobility inequalitytransport poverty |
| spellingShingle | Mienke Knipe Stephan Krygsman The opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in South Africa Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management transport expenditure household expenditure transport subsidisation transport justice mobility inequality transport poverty |
| title | The opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in South Africa |
| title_full | The opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in South Africa |
| title_fullStr | The opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | The opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in South Africa |
| title_short | The opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in South Africa |
| title_sort | opportunity cost of household transport expenditure in south africa |
| topic | transport expenditure household expenditure transport subsidisation transport justice mobility inequality transport poverty |
| url | https://jtscm.co.za/index.php/jtscm/article/view/1081 |
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