December 19, 2005
By Lucille Davie
Stand by for Rea Vaya Joburg, the City's answer to growing traffic congestion.
The new system will consist of 325 kilometres of special public transport lanes and intersections, running north and south of the city, and west and east. Forty transport interchange nodes will be created, where commuters can switch from one form of transport to another. They will eventually be able to buy a single ticket, making travel via the different means of transport a seamless journey.
The Rea Vaya ("we are going") brand will eventually appear on taxis, buses and trains, and on the new bus and taxi stops. The special lanes and intersections will be created on existing road networks, excluding freeways.
Major facilities such as schools, community centres, libraries, clinics and railway stations will all be within one kilometre of the routes.
The new look taxis and buses, sporting the Rea Vaya logos
Johannesburg's transport statistics are staggering: there are 3,2 million commuter trips a day, 47 percent of them in public transport and 53 percent in private vehicles. Minibus taxis make up 72 percent of public transport in 12 500 taxis, with trains constituting 14 percent and buses 9 percent. Some 600 000 people travel through the inner city every day.
There are over 1 200 taxi routes zigzagging through the city, each carefully logged by the City in an extensive audit of Joburg's transport systems.
Integrated transport plan
As part of the strategy to make Joburg a world-class city by 2030, an integrated transport plan (ITP) was developed in 2003, and approved by the provincial transport MEC and the minister of transport.
The premise for the plan was: "A safe and efficient transportation system, with a public transport focus, that will support a world-class city; connecting businesses, people and places in a sustainable and cost-effective manner and, through this, improving the standard of living and quality of life of all the city's inhabitants and the overall competitiveness and growth of the city's economy."
One of the main interventions proposed in the ITP is the strategic public transport network (SPTN).
An initial flagship project is being implemented, with the first section to run from Soweto, through to Parktown and on to Sunninghill.
The route begins at the Regina Mundi Church and Moroka Police Station, goes through Orlando and Highgate, past the University of Johannesburg's Bunting Road campus, up to Parktown, north to Rosebank, Sandton and Rivonia and, finally, reaches Sunninghill.
The first five kilometres of the route was opened in November, costing just under R20-million, says Bob Stanway, the City's director of transportation planning and management. Construction of the routes and interchanges costs an average R10-million a kilometre.
The second phase will see special lanes linking Alexandra to Sandton and Randburg, and on to Roodepoort, in the east-west corridor. This route is being put on hold with the approach of the 2010 Soccer World Cup, in which priorisation is being given to the linking of the Ellis Park sports complex with the Nasrec sport precinct.
The commuter rail system between Ellis Park, Park Station and Nasrec will be upgraded, also part of the City's preparations for 2010.
Left-hand lanes
Intersections on the SPTN will consist of special left-hand lanes for taxis and buses only, except in the case of left-turning vehicles. The public transport vehicles will be allowed to pass other vehicles in the left-hand lane. Red asphalt is being considered as the SPTN footprint.
The footprint will also include a yellow diamond shape painted on the road, indicating the special lane, which is further demarcated by a yellow dotted line. A white diamond will indicate that private vehicles may use the lane to turn left.
Designated stops will be constructed, with special ramps to allow easy access by passengers on to the taxis and buses. New bus stops have been designed and commuters will only be picked up at these new stops.
What is means, says Stanway, is that taxi operators will have to convert from haphazard routes to planned routes.
And as part of the conversion process, taxi operators will be issued with operating licences for particular routes. "It's happening in an agreement with the government," he says.
As part of the taxi recapitalisation process, it will be compulsory for existing legal operators to trade in their vehicles, for which they will be paid R50 000. They can then buy a new vehicle, for between R150 000 and R180 000, with government helping them get loans. Several new taxis have already appeared on the city's roads.
Route timetables
The City has published detailed timetables of taxi, train and bus routes and times and a route map, as well as taxi fares and a taxi hand signal user guide. Stanway says this is geared not only at local commuters, but also visitors and cross-border shoppers.
There are also plans to establish an inner city distribution system, with 35-seater buses travelling on three routes across the inner city. These will run at 15 minute intervals.
In what he refers to as "intelligent transport systems", Stanway says, there'll be CCTV installed on all SPTN routes.
The projects will be carried out jointly by the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the Johannesburg Development Agency.
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