SA cannot afford to stand still on public transport
SA cannot afford to stand still on public transport
South Africa’s bus industry is stuck in the past, strangled by outdated rules and political inertia. That’s the warning from Jan Aichinger, managing director of MAN Automotive South Africa, a 36-year veteran of the bus and coach industry.
South Africa is stagnating, dangerously out of step with global developments in public transport, and risks being left behind unless decisive action is taken. Those were the key messages delivered by Aichinger at the SABOA Convention.
Aichinger’s critique carries weight because of his long involvement with South Africa’s bus market. Having first engaged with the industry as far back as 1990, and later steering it from MAN’s global headquarters, he has witnessed both its potential and its persistent shortcomings.
“South Africa is blessed with extraordinary natural beauty and remarkable people,” Aichinger told delegates. “But when I compare this country’s transport development with other places I have worked and travelled, the conclusion is unavoidable: the bus and coach market here has been stagnating for 25 years, if not going backwards.”
Stuck in the past
The numbers back his assessment: despite an overall rise in road traffic, new bus registrations in South Africa have not exceeded peaks last seen around 2008. The public transport system remains fragmented and largely unintegrated, leaving private car use to dominate and road safety to deteriorate.
Perhaps the most damning indictment lies in emissions regulation. South Africa is still officially a Euro 2 market, which is somewhat staggering given that Euro 2 was first introduced in Europe back in 1996. Today, Europe enforces Euro 6 and will move to Euro 7 in 2028. That puts South Africa more than a decade behind global practice and at the bottom of the BRICS table in terms of emissions progress.
It also puts bus and coach operators at a decided disadvantage. “Every increase in emission standards doesn’t just mean cleaner air,” Aichinger argued. “It also brings in new technologies that cut fuel consumption, improve safety, and reduce total cost of ownership. Staying stuck at Euro 2 means our operators are denied those benefits and our industry risks being cut off from the global technology pipeline.”
Legislative blind spots
If South Africa’s outdated emission rules hold the country back, its import tariffs on electric vehicles actively penalise progress.
Aichinger was blunt: “You can import a CKD kit for a diesel bus and qualify for tariff exemptions. But if that same kit is for an electric bus, it doesn’t qualify – because there is no combustion engine. That means a 12% duty is applied. It’s absurd. We say we want to move to zero emissions, but the legislation makes the clean option more expensive than sticking to old technology from the last century.”
This inconsistency not only discourages electrification but also undermines local manufacturing. “We could be creating skilled jobs in local assembly of eBuses,” Aichinger said. “Instead, we are making it cheaper to import fully-built diesel buses. That is not a recipe for industrial growth or environmental responsibility.”
The missed opportunity of 2010
South Africa’s most visible attempt at transforming public transport came with the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the roll-out of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems. At the time, there was optimism that the country was finally turning the corner towards integrated, modernised networks.
Fifteen years later, Aichinger described that progress as having “evaporated”. Investment was made, he acknowledged, but it did not translate into sustainable results: “The political will to operate and further develop integrated networks has simply not been there. Instead of momentum, we have drifted back into fragmentation.”
The road ahead
Looking forward, Aichinger warned that the next wave of transformation is already here – and South Africa must decide whether it will ride it or be overwhelmed by it. “The challenges ahead are clear: digitisation, autonomous driving, and electrification. Globally, these are no longer futuristic concepts; they are realities being deployed today. South Africa cannot afford another lost decade.”
The road to zero emissions, he emphasised, is particularly urgent: “There are already around 100 electric buses operating in South Africa, some locally assembled, proving it can be done. But without supportive legislation and higher emission standards, this progress will remain isolated instead of scaling across fleets.”
MAN’s commitment
While Aichinger’s assessment of the national industry is sobering, MAN is positioning itself as part of the solution.
The company has invested continuously in weight reduction, safety enhancements, and new product development. The most striking evidence of this is the MAN Lion’s Explorer E – the first fully-electric bus engineered, homologated, and manufactured in South Africa.
Built on the foundations of the popular Lion’s Explorer – the only OE-manufactured bus body in South Africa, designed specifically for African conditions to European standards – the Explorer E represents a milestone for the local industry. It uses four lithium-nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) battery packs of 80kWh each, giving a total installed capacity of 320kWh. The integrated motor produces up to 240kW of peak power, while the bus delivers a range of up to 350km on a single charge.
“This bus proves that South Africa has the skills, resources, and capability to be part of the global transition,” Aichinger said. “It’s not a prototype, it’s a real product – locally engineered, locally homologated, and locally built to world-class standards.”
He underlined MAN’s broader environmental ambitions: “We have set ourselves high standards, both in reducing our own carbon footprint during production, and in developing vehicles that contribute to a sustainable future by providing emission-free solutions. The Lion’s Explorer E embodies both.”
Frustration and advocacy
As vice president of naamsa | The Automotive Business Council’s medium and heavy commercial vehicle cluster, Aichinger also uses his platform to lobby government for regulatory change. He expressed deep frustration that the industry has been discussing Euro 5 standards for over 14 years without a firm implementation date.
“I believe government understands the problem,” he said, “but the pace of change is glacial. Meanwhile the world moves on and South Africa risks being left further behind. Every year we delay, we make the eventual transition harder and more expensive.”
A call to operators
While government inaction is a major theme, Aichinger was equally forceful in urging operators themselves to take responsibility.
“I urge you: fight for higher emission standards. Introduce electric vehicles to your fleets. Be part of the change. SABOA must not only celebrate 45 years of industry excellence, but it must also lead the industry into the next 45. That means embracing new technologies and demanding the framework to support them.”
Aichinger was emphatic that the bus industry cannot wait passively for political leadership. “Operators are the ones closest to the customer – closest to the daily reality. If you lead, government will have to follow. But if we all sit and wait, nothing will happen.”
According to Aichinger, tangible solutions – such as the Lion’s Explorer E – mean that the industry has within its grasp the means to turn the tide. “South Africa has the resources, brains, and talent to be part of the transformation,” he concluded. “But it will require leadership – from SABOA, from operators, and from government – to seize the opportunity. The next challenges are here, and the future will not wait.”
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