1 October 2006
In developing an efficient and affective public transport system for our
province and country, we must take note of the huge historical imbalances in
the delivery of socio-economic infrastructure to our people. As government, we
are aware of historical disparities that stand in the way of delivering a
public transport system that would help us to ensure social justice in the way
that our communities grow.
The legacy of apartheid planning has led to the immense underdevelopment and
under-utilisation of public transport, with the 'privileged' communities
relying almost entirely on private transport. On the other hand, public
transport remains an option for historically disadvantaged communities, who
constitute a greater portion of the majority of South Africans.
In this respect, research indicates that:
* 50% of motorised passenger trips are made on public transport and 50%
using private transport
* most trips in the peak periods are to school (47%) and work (32%)
* three quarters of public transport users have an income of R1 600 or less per
month
* 68% of households do not own any cars
* 13% of households generate no peak period trips
* 40% of households generate no work trips, reflecting high unemployment and a
lack of income.
Government has made major strides in improving the state of transport
infrastructure, such as the building of roads in historically disadvantaged
communities, the construction of public transport termini, the introduction of
the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link so as to unlock the economic potential of our
province and the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme, to name but a few.
However, there remains the huge challenge of delivering a public transport
system that would be a mode of choice for the majority of our people, thus,
ensuring a better use of our road space, instead of the huge reliance on
private transport, to the extent that it chokes economic activities.
This brings to bear the current state of affairs where the rapid development
of our economy, in a democratic dispensation, has been coupled with growth in
the motor manufacturing industry, as well as congestion and gridlock on our
roads.
Therefore, this calls for a partnership between government and the community
of Gauteng, particularly, private vehicle owners, to join hands in addressing a
rapidly growing challenge of ensuring the mobility for people, goods and
services, with minimum delay, especially as it relates to the delivery of much
needed and essential government services.
In seeking to address these imbalances, government is continuously
developing a series of infrastructure development programmes that will enable
our economy to grow and at the same time, enabling historically disadvantaged
communities to access economic opportunities in both the first and second
economies in proportional measure of importance.
Car Free Day is an international campaign aimed at saving the environment
from the effects of the emission of harmful gasses to the atmosphere, and
improving the usage and state of public transport. This would also help us to
stem the tide of the rising cost of fuel in the global economy, especially the
developing world.
Road infrastructure continues to be under immense pressure due to
competition for road space from industrial, public and private road users. The
state and lifespan of the road network continues to degenerate beyond its
holding capacity as a result of the pressure exerted on it.
While government is engaged in socio-economic infrastructure development
programmes, such as roads for local and major use, it is not possible to build
enough roads to counteract the rapid increase in car ownership in our province.
Instead, it is important to consider all land use needs of the people of
Gauteng and at the same time, introduce an ethos of a smarter usage of road
space through broad partnerships between government, commuters, pedestrians,
motorists, public transport operators, cyclists, industrial role players,
automobile associations and broader society.
Ours must be the beginning of an ethos of an intelligent use of road
infrastructure coupled with modern and integrated systems and modes of travel.
We must introduce a usage of road space that would ensure that each of the
modes of travel, such as taxi's, buses, rail, heavy duty vehicles and private
cars makes optimal use of socio-economic infrastructure.
Together with South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL), we are
currently piloting an Intelligent Transport System on the N1 between the City
of Joburg and the City of Tshwane. This is meant to ease the pressure exerted
on that important corridor for the benefit of the economy of our province and
our country.
Challenges of urban sprawl bring to bear on the need to change the way we
plan the utilisation of our spatial landscape. We must, collectively work
towards densification in the way we develop housing, transport and other
socio-economic infrastructure. We need to reverse the legacy of spatial
planning that has placed most of the people of our province far away from their
places of work. We need to develop a transport system that creates a one stop
centre of socio-economic activity. As Gauteng gradually becomes a city region,
it must be countenanced by equally responsive planning and programmes.
What will gauge the level of success in our Public Transport Month (PTM)
campaign will not necessarily be the overnight emergence of a reliable public
transport system, but a growing and all inclusive partnership for change on
matters of public transport for our province.
This year, there will be a series of activities that will be rolled out
during the month of October, all aimed at broadening the platform on which we
will all interact and exchange ideas about how to improve our public transport
system. These will include the following:
* Extensive Communication as an essential part of our PTM; in this regard,
all available communication and publicity platforms and tolls will be utilised
so as to cover as much communication ground as possible. Interviews will also
be continuously held with mainstream and local media so as ensure access to
information for Gauteng residents. A Stakeholder Engagement Programme is also
being rolled out.
* Communication tools will include a website posting of the PTM
programme.
* Intergovernmental co-operation in the planning and implementation of PTM
activities.
* The piloting of the introduction of a high occupancy vehicle lane on the
Joburg to Tshwane corridor so as to ease congestion on that stretch of the
road. This pilot project will be run from 23 to 27 of October 2006, as part of
Public Transport Month. The public will be informed of further details before
implementation. The department is working in partnership with SANRAL, traffic
management authorities, automobile associations and other important role
players on this initiative, between St Andrews Road in Johannesburg and
Rooihuiskraal in Centurion (� 36 kilometres). Existing lanes will be
utilised.
* Launch of Scraping Agency in Sedibeng. The department and the Sedibeng
District Municipality will launch the Taxi Recapitalisation Scrapping
Agency.
* Issuing of the first 10 Public Passenger Transport Operating Licences in
Gauteng. This issuing is only a token of the good foundation we have laid,
working hand in hand in a growing partnership to modernise the taxi industry.
Taxi associations have made a huge contribution to the high levels of
co-operation and response we have received from taxi-type operators.
* Official opening of a new Randfontein Intermodal Facility. This will be done
in partnership with the West Rand District Municipality at the Randfontein Taxi
Rank.
Launch of the Intergovernmental Transport Charter
The department will launch The Gauteng Intergovernmental Transport Charter.
The charter is a high level agreement between the Member of Executive Council
(MEC) and Members of the Mayoral Committee's (MMC) of transport, committing
themselves and public transport officials to work together to achieve shared
transport objectives and outputs over the next five years. There will be an
exhibition of public transport facilities (evolution of the infrastructure from
1996 to 2006), and plans of other transport infrastructure facilities for the
next 5 years.
* Piloting of a new mode of local transport known as the Tuk-Tuks. This is
targeted at areas such as local tourism wherein the transportation of less than
three people between nodal points is essential and convenient. This mode of
transport will be ideal for moving around the city centres.
This campaign is also informed by the experiences of other countries, cities
and towns. In this regard, we must take a leaf from the challenges faced by the
City of Bogot�, in Colombia, when they started with the implementation of a
campaign similar to ours. The challenges they faced were in many respects,
similar to the ones we currently face in our rapidly growing province. We are
confident that our efforts will enable us to make great strides in improving
our public transport system.
As a measure of success of our efforts, in the first leg of our PTM
campaign, held in October last year, the initiative enabled the people of our
province to publicly engage on the nature and type of a public transport system
that would serve their needs. The media was also extensively involved in the
creation of public platforms that seek to give shape to the public debate.
Transport practitioners also wrote and spoke passionately about the many public
transport challenges we continue to face as a developing country. As government
we welcome this development as a positive step in finding transport solutions
for the economy.
For us as a government, seeking to deepen democracy and to broaden public
participation to all the corners of our land, this accounts for great success
in our young democracy. These are some of the benefits of a democratic
dispensation that we will further strengthen and sustain through all inclusive
programmes. This year, we aim to cover even more ground as we continue to roll
out public participation programmes for the good of the economy and the welfare
of our country and its people.
Our efforts towards finding sustainable transport solutions for our province
are also informed by the International Union of Public Transport's (UITP)
approach for developing countries. In this regard the following solutions and
good practices are recommended:
* sustainable economic development through an efficient and effective public
transport system
* supporting poverty reduction goals by offering good access to the city
* creating a local or regional transport authority to support local policy
making
* financing public transport operations and investments
* improving air quality by emphasising more environmentally friendly
modes
* making travel safer by allocating dedicated space and enforcing
standards
* reducing traffic congestion by preserving road capacity and limiting
parking
* making more energy efficient cities by increasing density and public
transport use
* organising and co-operating with para-transit services
* shaping city development using public transport as a backbone
* improving quality of life with a better use of urban space.
It is evident that our work and the process of implementing our public
transport strategy are in line with international trends and part of
recommendations made by UITP. The idea of Public Transport Month and Car Free
Day is one of such recommended practices where countries are encouraged to
raise awareness and help communities to use public transport facilities.
Enquiries:
Alfred Nhlapo
Tel: (011) 355 7392
Cell: 083 376 8496
Issued by: Department Transport, Roads and Works, Gauteng Provincial
Government
1 October 2006
