June 16, 2009
OUT OF AFRICA (DAY 2)
Little public transportation drives me crazy

By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor

Pretoria, South Africa -- For anyone who plans to attend next year's World Cup, here one one of many warnings coming your way:

Getting from here to there will not be easy, not by a longshot.

The reason is relatively simple: There is little public transporation to move people around.

During our cab drive from Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg to this capital city on Monday, we drove parallel to a new road in progress that is scheduled to open in time for the the June 11, 2010 kickoff.

Improving a country's road network is a great idea. But traveling by cars is not the answer in the age of the modern World Cup.

To get from here to there, Joy and I have used cabs (to and from U.S. practice today) for the most part and the media bus home from Monday's game between the United States and Italy in the FIFA Confederations Cup.

To get from here to Rustenburg for the U.S.'s game against Egypt on Sunday, I have been quoted a price of 600 Rand (around $75).

Of course, I had been spoiled in three or the past four World Cups by the fabulous train systems in Italy (1990), France (1998), Japan (2002) and Germany (2006) that dropped you off in the middle of a city for the most part.

So I am not looking forward getting from here to there for five weeks next June and July.

When I first visited South Africa three years ago, I wasn't exactly jumping for joy when a native South African told me that I should avoid trains, because security guards had been thrown off moving trains by roving gangs.

Fabulous.

One possible solution is to rent a car. That will change -- no, make that increase -- my already stretched travel budget and change the way I drive.

You see, they drive on the "wrong" side of the road in these parts -- the left side as in England.

I have driven the England way before -- in Montserrat in 2004.

But old habits die hard as I fought an instinct to stay to my right.

I managed to avoid killing people, chickens and goats (on the road side or on the road itself) and even crabs.

But that was for a week in a country that had a speed limit of 40 miles per hour.

The World Cup is a five-week marathon with speed limits, I presume, of 55-60 miles per hour if not more.

I have many months to make a decision, unless South African officials come up with a miracle of a speedy nationwide train system.

That is highly unlikely.

Michael Lewis would like to hear from you. If you have a comment, drop him a line at email.