March 10, 2005
By Thomas Thale
SOWETO commuters could soon be boarding taxis and buses travelling directly to suburbs north of the city, following a recent council resolution to create a direct public transport link between Soweto and the northern suburbs.
Shelters of this kind for both taxi and bus passengers will become common in Johannesburg, part of a massive new transport plan to make travel across long distances cheaper, quicker and more reliable.
At present, commuters travelling from Soweto to the northern suburbs have to catch connecting taxis in the city centre, as there is no public transport linking the township with the suburbs. This increases their transport costs and creates unnecessary delays. "This is forced movement. Not all commuters want to be funnelled through the inner city," said Bob Stanway, the director of transportation planning and management for the City.
The City has already approved R22-million to kickstart the plan in the current financial year. The measure to create new routes linking north and south underscores the City's efforts to promote the use of much improved public transport to relieve pressure on the roads.
Solly Nyambe, executive member of the Gauteng Provincial Commuter Council, which represents commuters who travel by bus, train and taxi, welcomed the initiative, saying it would make life easier for commuters. "We welcome that very much. Commuters experience problems having to transfer to another taxi in the city centre. It is costly. The queues are always long, making people late for work. If we could have taxis travelling from Soweto to Sandton, it would be appreciated."
At present, taxi commuters have to pay R4,70 from Soweto to Johannesburg, and then an extra R5,50 for a taxi to Sandton.
But the taxi industry has issued a word of caution. Eric Motshoane, the chairman of the Greater Johannesburg Taxi Council, which represents taxi operators, described the idea as "brilliant", but warned against putting some taxi operators out of business.
"When you talk transportation, you talk economics. This proposal should therefore not be a recipe for conflict. Our business works through a feeder system. That's what makes it viable. We must work out a way to make up for the losses which will be incurred by associations that rely on the Soweto-Johannesburg route."
Link to Integrated Transport Plan
For the plan to be realised, the City will first have to provide the necessary infrastructure and agree with public transport operators on the mechanism of implementing the resolution, which is informed by the City's Integrated Transport Plan (ITP). The ITP is a five-year City plan that recommends the creation of a Strategic Public Transport Network, 325km "of grid-based corridors along mobility spines, linking main residential and economic nodes in line with the Spatial Development Framework (SDF)".
The plan commits the City to the construction of a direct north-south corridor, linking Soweto, where many workers live, to the northern suburbs, where many employers are based. Another corridor linking Roodepoort in the west to Alexandra in the east, through Randburg/Sandton, will be opened up in due course.
The 2010 Soccer World Cup has added some urgency to the plan, as the FNB Stadium in Nasrec must be accessible from hotels in the northern suburbs. "It is a requirement of the 2010 Soccer World Cup that there should be priority public transport corridors between hotels and stadiums," Stanway said.
He said a preliminary design had already been done on roads stretching from Regina Mundi Church in Soweto to Parktown. The City had established from surveys that a large proportion of commuters wanted to go to the north, Stanway said. "We must provide the quickest, most effective routing."
In the current financial year, the City had set aside R22-million for constructing lanes and stops and creating priority measures at intersections to facilitate the free flow of public transport, he said, adding that contractors to upgrade the first 5km of the road linking Regina Mundi to Orlando West were to go on site soon.
The pilot phase of the project will be the construction of a special, coloured lane reserved for public transport from Soweto. The lane is intended to speed up travelling times for vehicles carrying the bulk of commuters.
"The road surface will be red to distinguish it as a public transport lane. The intention is to make it prominent. Eventually, buses and taxis will mostly run on this network," Stanway explained. "We'll also be putting up public transport priorities in the form of special stops, transfer points and shelter to protect commuters waiting to board transport. This will help make public transport quicker, more regular and less subject to sporadic delays."
The corridor will be extended progressively, until it covers the 325km of the designated public transport priority routes. Other measures being developed by the City to tackle peak hour traffic are to encourage motorists to establish lift clubs and to have variable working hours. Stanway said the City had met business owners from Sunninghill, "to expose them to the objectives of the City with respect to piloting carpooling and variable working hours" in that suburb.
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