By Thomas Thale
BY THE end of this year, commuters looking for information on routes, maps and timetables for buses, taxis and trains, or even for hand signals used to indicate taxi routes, will be able to simply consult a brochure to be published by the City.
A project to collate and publish commuter information got under way on Friday, when consultants appointed by the City got to work. Alfred Sam, the deputy director for transportation management, says the information will be available online in September, but the brochures will only be printed by the end of the year.
The initiative has been endorsed by Dr Vaughan Mostert, a lecturer in the department of transport and supply chain management at the Kingsway Campus of the University of Johannesburg. "The advantage is that it improves the image of public transport and simplifies the travelling experience for commuters."
But he cautions that the brochures will be meaningless if they are not accompanied by tangible improvements in service. "We must have minimum levels of service and better frequencies of buses, even on routes that are not high density."
Bob Stanway, the director of transportation planning and management in the City, says the measures are a step towards integrating public transport ticketing systems in the City. "We will be investigating if it is possible to integrate the Metrobus tags, Putco weekly coupons and Metrorail."
Mostert agrees, saying it is essential to have one ticketing system. "The network of formal services must be branded and co-ordinated. It is easier to start with formal operators. But for the system to work, operators will have to charge the same rates. In London, for instance, competition only comes in the form of people bidding for contracts to operate these services. We must have competition for the route, not on the route."
At the same time, the City has commissioned an investigation into long distance operations, including cross-border taxis and buses, working from the Greater Joubert Park precinct, with a view to catering to the needs of travellers to other provinces and internationally.
Stanway says taxis from other provinces and international operators use the area. "You have taxis from countries such as Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Angola and Mozambique. We want to understand the needs of our international visitors and, in due course, provide facilities in keeping with these needs."
According to Sam, the idea is to have fewer long distance public transport facilities that are well regulated and properly resourced. "For the purpose of providing better facilities and infrastructure, as well as ensuring proper regulation and maintenance, it is better to centralise."
While welcoming these measures, Mostert emphasises that more needs to be done to improve the co-ordination, rationalisation and integration of public transport, as the National Land Transportation Act dictates. "The high speed Gautrain railway line can't be a success unless we start with improved bus and road services to feed into the train."
However, Sam says the City has set in motion steps to overhaul public transport in the city, working closely with operators. The City has taken proactive steps and has worked with the Gautrain team on planning for feeder services that will support the rail link. The intention is to ensure that Gautrain operates within the framework of the City's Integrated Transport Plan.
In the meantime, the City is making efforts to forge close working relationships with public transport operators. According to Sam, more than a year ago the City set up a Metro Taxi Forum and a Metro Transport Forum in line with the Gauteng Public Passenger Road Transport Act.
The taxi forum unites representatives of metered taxis, minibus taxis, commuter organisations, driver organisations and people with disabilities. Established in 2003, it meets monthly to discuss issues related to taxi operations in the city.
In trying to understand the issues and challenges facing the taxi industry, so they can collectively be dealt with together with the industry itself, the City hosted two indabas of taxi associations at the end of last year. One involved the Greater Johannesburg Regional Taxi Council, the other involved the Top Six Management, says Sam.
"We discussed a wide range of issues, including City plans and policies, and operators raised their concerns as well. We managed to get input from stakeholders on what the pressing challenges are for the industry and we accordingly prioritised them. The next step is to reconvene with the industry to try to find solutions to these challenges."
These engagements, says Sam, are indications that the City's relations with taxi operators are improving. "We have built a basis for trust and good working relations."
In the long term, the City's vision is to have more people using public transport, simply because it will help to relieve traffic congestion and be more convenient and cheaper to do so, says Stanway.
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