It seems that the relationship between transport and ebooks has not ended but is becoming stronger. If not long ago we saw with London or New York they tried to promote the love of reading offering a catalog of free ebooks to metro usersNow South Africa seems to be following the same trail, although the path is not followed by the South African Government but by a private company.
The company Bookboon has teamed up with Gauntrain to offer free ebooks to transport users, especially to the youngest who will also have access to digital textbooks.
This alliance is curious and very positive for a continent where reading or access to books is not very widespread, despite the fact that South Africa is a developed country. That is why these actions are positive, but they also attract attention.
South Africa will be the third country to offer free ebooks on its transport
They attract the attention of many that we see as European countries with more resources than South Africa do not offer this despite being sued by its users while in South Africa two companies have decided to carry it out.
But I am also struck by the fact that the news leaps onto the international scene and only three cities offer this (in the case of South Africa, the service is in Johannesburg city), when actually many more cities could offer free ebooks to their citizens, not only to those who use transport such as the subway or train.
This makes me think that the programs to promote reading are not working as well as expected or that little by little we are giving up reading, something quite bad for any society. And you may actions like those carried out in the South African or London subway are more effective than others, although it seems that in Spain it will take us a while to experience it, unfortunately.