Eastern Cape DOT to host Public Transport Summit

In a quest to improve the quality of public transport, particularly in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape, Transport MEC Thandiswa Marawu will host a Provincial Public Transport Summit in October 2012.

This was announced by MEC Marawu at the launch of the Eastern Cape Bus Operators Council in Queenstown. The summit will be a culmination of a public consultation process, which is currently underway as the Eastern Cape Department of Transport is busy developing a Provincial Integrated Public Transport Master Plan.

"It has become evident that we are still going to face serious challenges in our efforts of changing more than a century of racial social engineering that displaced the majority of South Africans to the margins of our societal settlement if we do not emerge with a credible public transport plan that will improve the mobility and accessibility of our people," said Marawu.

The new plan seeks to lay a roadmap that will transform public transport in the province and lead to the integration of bus, taxi and train services for the benefit of all public transport users.

The first phase of preparation has focussed on the collection of data and confirmation of the challenges faced by providers and users of the existing public transport system.

Two Stakeholder Committee Meetings have been held in East London and Mthatha with various stakeholders, including taxi, bus and train operators, local and district municipal officials, labour organisations, the business community, users of public transport and the disabled community.

District Transport Forums have been mobilised within the six districts of the Eastern Cape to facilitate discussion regarding the state of public transport services and infrastructure in each district.

The major issues identified at the various meetings include long waiting times for public transport, poor service in rural areas due to bad roads, difficulties faced by women and disabled passengers and operating licence issues.

Additionally, regular meetings are being held with the Eastern Cape Bus and Taxi Business Chamber to discuss their participation in the Provincial Integrated Public Transport Master Plan (PIPTMP). 

The number of passengers using public transport in the Eastern Cape is being estimated from the Integrated Transport Plans of the various District Municipalities, surveys conducted at taxi ranks across the province, and bus passenger records. This data collection will be completed in early May.

The second phase of the project is to determine the demand for public transport and prepare a Concept Strategy for public transport in the province.

A computer generated model of public transport in the Eastern Cape is being prepared to understand current public transport patterns and to estimate the number of people that still need to be served by public transport. The concept strategy will consider how best to integrate bus, taxi and train public transport services to the benefit of public transport users and operators.

The concept strategy will be discussed at the next Stakeholder Committee Meeting that is scheduled to take place in East London on 30 May 2012 at the NG Church in Gonubie.

All interested and affected parties are requested to attend this meeting and give their input for inclusion in the Concept Strategy document, which will inform the preparation of the actual Master Plan.