Importance Of Road Transportation

Road transport is more than just about vehicles on the road, it lays the foundation of how our human settlements functions and links different markets globally. Road transport is linked to the health, economic performance, and social fabric of our cities (Instabul, 2005). Road transport plays a major role in the South African economy, by enabling trading between different industries and within the same industries.

Highways are the major means of transporting people and freight in this country and a reliable land transportation system with the supporting infrastructure is important for a strong economy (Tsoucalas, 2007). For any industry to operate effectively, it needs the services of road transportation. Road transportation is the most commonly used mode of transport for moving freight worldwide, even when one is using air, sea or rail a truck is always responsible for delivering the goods from the port of arrival to the final destination.

Road infrastructures consume a lot of space with the lowest level of physical constraints among transportation modes. In the past road transportation was developed to support non-motorized forms of transportation e.g walking and cycling, but now it is motorization that has mostly shaped its development. The competitive advantage that road has over other modes is its operational flexibility and convenience; it can serve several purposes such as delivering goods right at the door step and this adds value to the consumer. (Tsoucalas, 2007)

Companies need to make use of this type of transportation to ship their goods from the place of manufacturing to the place of consumption, at the right place, right time and at the right price. Likewise customers need this type of transportation to get their ...

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... the operators; the constant wage increases are raising the logistics costs. The lack of skilled workers makes it even harder for the industry to operate effectively.

Capital expenditure to upgrade road infrastructure is necessary, not only to lower the costs of transportation, but to also provide a reliable and safe road service to urban and rural areas. Road users need to see where their taxes have are being used, therefore government should prioritize the fixing of the roads. The irony is South Africa conducts less maintenance on its roads and yet has a very high percentage on road transport costs.

Rail transportation is growing to be a real competitor for road because of its ability to ship bulky goods to the rural areas. With a better infrastructure these to modes, will grow the economy of the country and enable South Africa to better trade in any industry.