February 28, 2007
By Lucille Davie
ONE would be correct in saying that the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) has no connection to buses. But everyday it will be reminded of buses, because it now resides in the former parking garage of the city's double-decker buses in Newtown, the Bus Factory.
"We are delighted with our new premises," says Lael Bethlehem, the agency's chief executive.
The building is a large, box-like structure, with its tall interior needed to cater for the buses. These are still seen on the city's streets. With brick outer walls and two A-framed red-iron roofs, with visible metal struts, it's a very creative space.
Although the renovation is not quite complete, the JDA's 50 staff members moved into its new premises in January. Workmen still trudge around in dusty boots, but JDA employees have stamped their mark on the space, making mosaic tabletops in their relaxing atrium as a team-building exercise.
Two factors led to the move. The old offices in Market Street were too small and, together with the parking, too expensive; and the books of the Bus Factory were simply not balancing - expenses far outweighed the costs.
The Bus Factory belongs to the City and is managed by the JDA. Since 2001, it has been home to a number of arts and crafts non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
So, Gapp Architects was called in: at a cost of R9-million the Bus Factory has been re-invented as an exciting new space with offices, boardrooms and an atrium, as a building within a building, consisting of some 2 000m².
A two-storey structure, with similar red bricks to match the Bus Factory walls, has been created. It has wooden doors, wooden balconies, large windows and a tall wood-slate section of walling to demarcate the atrium, with its concrete table tops, benches and double-volume roof.
To complete the picture, a café has been built, and the JDA is looking for someone to run it. The rental from the different organisations will be used to cover the operational costs of running the Bus Factory.
Newtown vibe
And, says Bethlehem, it is "very wonderful" to be in Newtown, with its many cafés and bars, the Market Theatre – and being next to the City's Arts, Culture and Heritage Services Department.
Bethlehem also speaks with excitement about the JDA's new receptionist, Morena Mthimkulu, who gets around in a wheelchair. "He lives in Brickfields [barely a kilometre from the Bus Factory], and every day he rolls across Newtown to work, then rolls himself home again."
Mthimkulu, who started at the JDA at the beginning of February, says it takes him about 15 minutes to get to work. He lives in a ground floor flat at Brickfields and works in a ground floor office at the JDA.
"It is a wonderful symbol, to live, play and work in the inner city," says Bethlehem, who adds that the JDA has reserved the position of receptionist for a disabled person.
It has been known as the Bus Factory since 2001, when it was renovated at a cost of R9,5-million with funding from Blue IQ, the province's development agency, and the Gauteng department of sports, recreation, arts and culture. The JDA shares its new home with cultural organisations that have been there for the past five years.
The Bus Factory, with Create SA; the Visual Arts and Crafts Academy; the Artists' Proof Studios; and the Craft Council, a network of cultural NGOs, as tenants, has become synonymous with arts and crafts exhibitions and arts education. The privately owned Drum Café also rents space in the Bus Factory.
These groups will continue renting space. In 2002, shortly after the World Summit for Sustainable Development was held in the city, a striking exhibition called Beautiful Things was transferred from the summit to the Bus Factory, where it remained as a permanent exhibition.
Beautiful Things consisted of crafts and artworks from rural communities around the country. The agency is now looking for funding to open up the exhibition space again.
The tall atrium area created for JDA staff
The JDA is keen for the Bus Factory to continue as a craft and education centre.
Public transport
Johannesburg's early public transport was in the form of horse-drawn trams, both double- and single-decker, introduced to the town in 1891. In 1906 the first electric trams took to the streets, driven on tracks. By 1931 the council had bought the city's first double-decker buses, according to
Johannesburg - One Hundred Years.
In 1961 the last of the electric trams was taken off the roads, and the electric bus was as the main form of public transport. It was driven by means of two metal arms reaching up to cables running in the air along each route. By the late 1970s these buses had been replaced by double-decker, diesel buses.
These buses parked overnight at the Bus Factory in Newtown, until the early 1990s, when the garage was closed.
By 1985, between 700 and 800 minibus taxis were transporting black passengers across Joburg, in response to the whites-only policy on the double-decker buses.
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