Abstract:
Sprawled spatial patterns and fragmented infrastructure have contributed to the ineffective public
transportation systems in South African cities, including Tshwane. As a response, the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)
intervention is an integral component of the Public Transport strategy meant to address this challenge. Since the
onset of its implementation in 2009, scholars and other interested parties have assessed the Public Transport
strategy more broadly or its components or programmes. One of the components assessed is its effectiveness
with regards to addressing public transportation challenges. Some of these assessments have reported positive
changes in public transport operations. However, other scholars feel that public transport challenges are still
evident. Therefore, the mixed messages could be the problematic monitoring and evaluation system of this
intervention, either the lack or ineffective instutionalisation of the monitoring and evaluation arrangements
or its alignment to the policy aim and objectives. For this reason, this research intends to assess the monitoring
and evaluating arrangements for tracking and assessing the Tshwane metropolitan public transportation
intervention. This paper, however, is restricted to conceptualise such a research. To do so, we undertake a
thematic summative content analysis to interrogate literature on (i.) the research physical context or setting,
(ii.) the research problem, and (iii.) the research knowledge gap. Further and exclusively to the research problem
analysis, the paper applies the problem tree, the theory of constraint, and trend analysis to interrogating
literature on ineffective public transportation systems. This interrogation provides for conceptualising an
appropriate research problem statement as well as the accompanying research purpose statement and the
research questions for such a research. We also propose the research strategy, design, procedure and methods
as well as established frameworks that we can use to interpret the anticipated empirical results.
