Abstract
In the age of smart cities and globalisation, smart mobility is not only a vital component in the physical
functionality of cities but also an economic and social performance of the modern urban centres. Urban
transformations that are taking place in South African cities exhibit a strong shift towards the adoption
of smart cities concepts that entail smart governance, mobility, economy, living, environment and
people; hence prioritizing the economy and the society’s needs. There have been massive innovative
public transport systems developments in the City of Johannesburg since 2010, which are the rapid
Gautrain, Gaubus and Rea Vaya bus as a way of complimenting the already existing Putco bus, Metro
bus and Metro rail services. Paradoxically, the impact of such innovations particularly on socioeconomic
development of the City of Johannesburg has not been highlighted conclusively in existing
literature. Consequently, this paper seeks to explore and highlight socio-economic benefits of
innovative public transportation systems in communities focusing on the City of Johannesburg. To
comprehend this, the study used a mixed approach of qualitative, quantitative and spatial investigation.
Questionnaires, key informant interviews, maps from ArcGIS software as well as crowd sourced data
from Echo-Echo software were applied. This helped to reveal the socio-economic impact,
developmental trends as well as perceptions of commuters using the innovative public transit systems.
Research results revealed that innovative public transit systems contribute to socio-economic benefits
however, a lot still needs to be done to improve their impacts on ordinary citizens and residents in the
City of Johannesburg. Pursuant to that, the paper ends by recommending that there is need for strong
linkages between innovative and sustainable public transportation development and socio-economic
imperatives within communities and societies.