Christo Venter is a civil engineer with more than 25 years’ experience in transportation planning, transport modelling and public transport operations. He completed a PhD in Transportation Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1998, focusing on travel behaviour research and activity-based modelling. He then joined the CSIR in Pretoria, before moving to the University of Pretoria in 2003 where he is currently appointed as a full Professor. He remains involved in industry-oriented consulting and research work in the areas of transport planning and engineering. Recent clients and research funders include the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF), the World Resources Institute, GIZ, DFID, and various national departments and local governments in South Africa. He is a registered professional engineer, a Fellow of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) and serves on various local and international editorial panels and research fora. Prof Venter has authored or co-authored more than 30 peer-reviewed articles, 7 book chapters, and 43 conference papers. He has also supervised or co-supervised about 60 undergraduate projects, 25 completed Master’s research projects and two completed Ph.D dissertations.

Teaching duties 

• SVC 323: Transportation Engineering
• SVC 412: Infrastructure Planning
• SSC 412: Research Project
• SVC 790: Transportation Studies (postgraduate)
• SVV 788: Multimodal Transport (postgraduate)
• SVC 789: Transportation Planning (postgraduate)

Prof Venter’s research activities are mainly done through the Centre for Transport Development at UP.

Current Research interests

• Data collection, travel surveys, and statistical analysis of travel data. This includes the development of cost-effective modelling methods for transport planning in developing countries.
• Use of new technologies in travel data collection (e.g. GPS, cell phones, automatic numberplate recognition).
• Interaction between transport systems and land use, social equity, quality of life, and the economy. Examples include the impacts of gated communities on travel and mobility; the impacts of public transport innovation (like BRT) on urban poverty; and accessibility as a means of measuring transport impact.
• The deployment, design and operations of multimodal transport systems. This includes Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and informal (minibus-taxi) services in hybrid networks, and their integration with first/last mile modes.

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​For an updated publications list, see his Google Scholar profile or Researchgate profile.

Selected recently completed students:

Gary Hayes (PhD)
(Estimation of the Value of Travel Time Savings using advanced discrete choice models among South African commuters)

John-Paul Mwenda (M. Eng)
(Design Strategies for Priority Infrastructure for Minibus-Taxis at Signalised Intersections)

Genevivie Ankunda (M.Eng)
(Use of Volunteered Geographic Information to Study Physical and Operational Integration of Public Transport)

Daniel Watts (M.Eng)
(Exploring the Access/Egress Behaviour of Rapid Rail Passengers through the Application of Nested Logit Models)

Sumashni Moodley (M.Eng)
(Development of a Multi-modal Integration Index for Measuring Passenger Needs and Priorities at Intermodal Interchanges)

Lindiwe Mathebula (M.Eng)
(A comparison of Direct and Trunk-Feeder configurations for Bus Rapid Transit systems)

Simeon du Preez (M.Eng)
(Traffic Impacts of Shared Right-Of-Way Public Transport Systems:  A  Microsimulation-Based Case Study)

Lourens de Beer (M.Eng)
(Modelling the Impact of Priority Infrastructure on the Performance of Minibus Taxi Services in Southern Africa)