South Africa’s Transport Month this October puts renewed focus on the role that transport plays in economic growth and social development. For businesses, that conversation extends beyond infrastructure and the movement of goods. It also includes the daily movement of the people who keep operations running.

Reliable passenger transport is essential to workforce mobility and business continuity. In industries that operate in shifts or around the clock, dependable transport can influence attendance, shift readiness and production continuity. Yet the movement of people is often overlooked as part of supply-chain resilience.

Unitrans passenger operations provides employee transport, commuter services and managed solutions across multiple sectors, moving people early in the morning, late at night and over long distances to mining, agricultural and other operational sites.

“Transport is not just about mobility. It is a lifeline to work, income and essential services,” says Bazil Govender, Divisional Head: Business Development at Unitrans passenger operations. “It connects people to livelihoods, education, healthcare and economic opportunity, while supporting the continuity of local businesses.”

Transport Month provides a timely opportunity to consider this wider role: how safe, reliable and well-managed mobility supports not only individual journeys, but the businesses, communities and local economies that depend on them.

Safety Beyond Compliance

Research published by the Road Traffic Management Corporation in March 2025 recorded 146 fatalities in major long-distance bus crashes during 2024, the highest annual figure in its 2018–2024 dataset. The findings reinforce the need for continued attention to passenger transport safety.

At Unitrans, safety extends beyond compliance.

“Policies and procedures are essential, but safety ultimately depends on people making responsible decisions every day,” Govender says. “That includes the driver behind the wheel, the team planning the route, the customer setting operational expectations and every person sharing the road.”

Safety must therefore inform each stage of how a journey is planned and delivered.

Drivers contribute through vigilance, professionalism and care. Operations teams consider routes, schedules, vehicle readiness and local conditions. Customers help uphold standards, while passengers, communities and other road users influence the broader road environment.

This shared responsibility requires consistent attention to behaviour, accountability and continuous improvement. Safety must be embedded in organisational culture rather than treated as a checklist addressed only during a campaign or event.

What Makes a Connected Community?

The Unitrans passenger operations team sees first-hand how safe, reliable mobility supports people, businesses and the supply chains that depend on them.

Behind every journey is a coordinated network of drivers, planners, fleet teams, operational processes and relationships with customers and communities. When one part of that network fails, the impact can extend beyond a delayed trip to affect employee attendance, production schedules, family responsibilities and access to essential services.

“In a South African context, a connected community is one where mobility is reliable, safe and inclusive, and becomes an enabler of economic resilience, business continuity and social progress,” says Nothando Sibiya, Business Development Manager at Unitrans passenger operations.

“It requires businesses to see transport as more than simply moving people from one place to another. Transport providers need to understand the communities and environments in which they operate, engage meaningfully with local stakeholders and respond to the realities of each route and region.”

Connected communities are therefore supported not only by infrastructure, but by strong relationships, accountable systems and collaboration among businesses, customers, passengers, communities, road users and public stakeholders.

The Human Impact of Transport

A practical example emerged through ongoing engagement between the regional management team at a Unitrans operation in Secunda and members of the surrounding community.

Through these conversations, the team became aware that transport challenges were affecting some children’s ability to attend school consistently. Working with community representatives, the team helped put a transport arrangement in place to improve access to education.

The response was rooted in a clearly identified local need and made use of existing transport capabilities to address a practical barrier.

By improving learners’ ability to reach school, the arrangement demonstrated how listening, collaboration and targeted action can make a meaningful difference to people’s everyday lives.

It also reflects Govender’s view that meaningful community contributions should be continuous rather than once-off, practical rather than symbolic, and shaped by local realities.

Moving People, Supporting Progress

Passenger transport cannot solve every economic or social challenge, and responsibility for building safer, more connected communities does not rest with transport providers alone.

It requires commitment from businesses, customers, employees, communities, road users and public stakeholders. Trust, communication and ongoing engagement are as important as the physical infrastructure connecting people.

When employees can reach their workplaces consistently and safely, businesses are better positioned to maintain operations and protect productivity. When communities have dependable access to employment, education, healthcare and essential services, people are better able to participate in economic and social opportunities.

The result is a stronger connection between people, operational continuity and supply-chain resilience – and a reminder during Transport Month that the value of transport is ultimately measured by what it enables.

“Purposeful transport is not simply about reaching a destination,” Govender concludes. “It is about enabling opportunity, strengthening relationships and helping to create the conditions in which people, communities and businesses can progress.”

Source note: Department of Transport, October Transport Month 2026.

Road Traffic Management Corporation, The Role of Seatbelts in Preventing Fatalities and Serious Injuries in Long Distance Bus Crashes in South Africa, March 2025. The study’s 2024 dataset was extracted on 2 December 2024 and covers records up to 1 December 2024

South Africa’s road transport industry is entering a period of significant change, with rising operating costs, new energy technologies and rapid advances in digitalisation placing greater emphasis on efficiency, vehicle productivity and lifecycle costs. For truck and trailer body builder Serco, these trends are shaping both its view of the market and its innovation priorities for 2027.

Serco CEO Clinton Holcroft believes the next phase of commercial vehicle development will be increasingly influenced by the following interconnected themes: reducing vehicle weight and improving efficiency, the gradual adoption of alternative energy vehicles and the greater use of data and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve vehicle performance and uptime. 

“Transporters ultimately need vehicles that carry the maximum productive payload, are reliable, cost-effective to operate and spend as little time as possible off the road,” said Holcroft. “The technologies are changing, but those fundamental customer requirements remain the same,” said Holcroft.

He said 2026 was proving to be a demanding one for the logistics industry, with sharply higher diesel costs adding further pressure to already competitive operating conditions. “Serco has seen transporters respond by extending the operating life of existing equipment and placing increased emphasis on maintenance, reliability and vehicle utilisation. Fuel pressures intensified towards the latter part of the year with South African diesel prices rising sharply again in October, adding further impetus to the industry’s search for greater operating efficiency,” said Holcroft. 

Despite the difficult environment, Serco achieved marginal year-on-year improvement, recording more than 8% growth in repair sales, while continuing to broaden its dry-freight product offering and customer base.

The company also placed particular emphasis on reducing customer downtime. Its Johannesburg facility was expanded during the year, adding capacity for both after-sales repairs and new-body manufacturing, with further improvements to the facility and layout under review. 

“In a difficult operating environment, keeping existing equipment productive becomes increasingly important,” said Holcroft. “Our focus has therefore not only been on manufacturing new vehicles but also on improving the speed and efficiency of our repair services to help customers reduce downtime.”

Holcroft expects the drive towards lower tare weight and improved aerodynamics to accelerate, regardless of the vehicle’s power source.

The benefit for a conventional fleet is the potential for improved payload and fuel efficiency. For battery-electric vehicles, weight becomes particularly important because body specification needs to balance payload, durability and vehicle range.

Serco has already started applying lightweight construction principles to truck bodies built for electric vehicles (EVs) introduced into the South African market this year. 

“With electric vehicles, every kilogram becomes increasingly important. The challenge for body builders is not simply to make a body lighter. It is to reduce weight intelligently while maintaining the strength, durability and practicality customers expect.”

Serco therefore forecasts continued development in areas including composite materials, high-strength lightweight steels, aluminium construction and aerodynamic body design. The company plans to further develop its EV body range during 2027 while continuing research into materials and designs capable of reducing tare without compromising durability. 

Holcroft believes electric commercial vehicles will become increasingly relevant to selected South African transport applications as vehicle choice expands and the commercial case improves.

However, Holcroft cautions that adoption will not happen overnight. “Electric trucks need to make operational and commercial sense for the fleet. Range, payload, charging infrastructure, vehicle utilisation, support and total cost of ownership – all have to be considered. As those elements improve, we expect more transporters to evaluate where EVs can fit successfully into their operations.”

Serco expects its role to remain centred on helping operators extract maximum value from whichever vehicle platform they select by developing bodies that combine low tare weight, durability, load-carrying capability and practical operating features. 

Another major development Holcroft sees gathering momentum is the convergence of trailers, telematics, sensors and AI.

Trailers are already increasingly capable of generating operational information through technologies such as real-time load monitoring, tyre-pressure monitoring, temperature tracking and door-opening alerts. Serco sees the next opportunity as converting more of this information into actionable insight, including proactive maintenance and fleet optimisation. 

“The opportunity is for the trailer to evolve from simply being an asset that carries freight into an intelligent asset that provides operators with useful information about its condition and operation.”

Serco is currently evaluating new features using telematics and sensors to support proactive trailer maintenance as well as camera technologies aimed at reducing vehicle damage during docking and unloading operations. 

AI could also increasingly influence the engineering process. Serco sees potential for AI-assisted tools to help engineers analyse load patterns, optimise structural designs, reduce material usage and improve stress and fatigue analysis. 

Rather than positioning AI as a replacement for engineering expertise, Holcroft believes its value will lie in augmenting engineering capability and accelerating innovation.

“The exciting opportunity is combining the experience of our engineers with increasingly sophisticated digital tools. If we can design lighter and stronger products, identify maintenance requirements earlier and give fleet operators better information, technology translates into real customer value.”

Looking ahead, Serco expects trading conditions to remain challenging while fleet operators continue to manage high operating costs and ageing equipment. At the same time, the need to replace overextended vehicles should create opportunities for newer, more efficient and reliable equipment.

Against this backdrop, Serco’s priorities for 2027 will include further development of its lightweight and EV-ready body range, continued research into advanced materials, greater integration of telematics and smart technologies, further improvements in repair turnaround times, and development of the skills required for an increasingly digital and electrified transport industry. 

“We don’t believe innovation should be about technology for technology’s sake,” Holcroft concluded. “For our customers, innovation must translate into better payload, lower operating costs, increased uptime, improved safety and longer asset life. That is where we see the greatest opportunity for Serco as the transport industry evolves.”

Clinton Holcroft, CEO of Serco (Pty) Ltd

A year ago, AI assistants sent this business no visitors. Now they do. For transport, logistics and supply chain companies, the way buyers shortlist carriers and freight partners is changing too.

IMS‘s work with Big Talk Entertainment shows how AI search is starting to influence how South African businesses are found. The lessons apply across the sector, from freight operators, couriers and clearing agents to warehousing, cold chain and supply chain software firms.

Between February and July 2026, Big Talk Entertainment recorded 28 website sessions from AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. Over the same period in 2025, Google Analytics 4 recorded none. The Cape Town entertainment agency worked with Johannesburg-based digital agency IMS to make its website easier for search engines and generative AI tools to find, understand and cite.

The numbers are still small, and IMS is candid about that. “The direction is what matters,” says IMS’s Chief Disruptor, Francois Vorster. “A way of finding customers that did not exist a year ago now does.”

Over the same six months, new visitors from Google search rose 67%, and people typing the website’s address directly into their browser, often a sign that someone remembers a brand, rose 87%.

Why This Matters for Logistics

Big Talk is not a logistics business, but its corporate buyers behave like yours. They research several suppliers before they make contact, and in logistics a poor choice means late deliveries and damaged stock. More of that research now starts with a question put to an AI tool, such as “Which freight forwarders handle cross-border shipments to Zambia?” or “Who offers warehousing near the Durban port?”

“Choosing a logistics, transport or supply chain partner is a high-stakes decision, so buyers research thoroughly before they request a quote, and more of that research now starts in an AI tool and not a Google search,” says Vorster. “We can’t say for certain how much of the improvement came from traditional search work and how much from the AI-focused work. What we can say is that AI tools have become a measurable new source of visitors for a business that had none a year ago.”

What IMS Did

IMS combined traditional search work with making the business easier for AI tools to find and recommend: improving the website’s technical foundations, rewriting pages to answer the questions customers ask, and keeping the business’s details consistent everywhere AI tools look.

For a logistics business, that means clearly explained services, current coverage areas and routes, fleet and capabilities, licences and certifications, and answers to common shipper questions.

“A few years ago, nobody asked ChatGPT to recommend a band for their wedding. Now many people do,” says Deon Schlebusch, Managing Director of Big Talk Entertainment. “We are not walking away from the channels that have always worked for us, but we’d be foolish to ignore a new one that’s starting to send us business leads.”

A Word of Caution

The results come from Big Talk’s own analytics, comparing 1 February to 31 July 2026 with the same period in 2025. Because traditional and AI-focused work ran together, the growth cannot be credited to the AI work alone, and any link between AI recommendations and direct visits cannot be proven from the data. “We would rather show what we can actually measure than overclaim,” says Vorster.

Logistics businesses should also make sure claims about coverage, transit times, licences and safety records are accurate and verifiable, because buyers rely on what AI tools tell them.

What is GEO?

Generative Engine Optimisation, or GEO, is the practice of making a business easier for AI tools to find and recommend. Where SEO is about ranking on Google, GEO is about being the answer an AI tool gives.

The full case study is available at https://imsolutions.co.za/news/big-talk-entertainment/

Francois Vorster, IMS Chief Disruptor

Deon Schlebusch, Managing Director of Big Talk Entertainment