The signing of a memorandum of understanding between the taxi associations and the City
Statement by the Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Clr Amos Masondo, on the occasion of the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the taxi associations and the City of Johannesburg on the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) transport system, Mayoral Parlour, Metro Centre, Braamfontein - Johannesburg
Programme Director
Speaker of Council: Clr Nkele Ntingane
Chief Whip of Council: Clr Bafana Sithole
MMC for Transportation: Clr Rahana Moosajee
Members of the Mayoral Committee
City Manager: Mavela Dlamini
Top Six Taxi Association Chairperson: Mr Sicelo Mabaso
Top Six Taxi Association President: Mr Sipho Mtambo
Greater Johannesburg Regional Taxi Council Chairperson: Mr Eric Motshwane
The Media
In October this year – during the Transport Month, the Johannesburg Council launched its Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) transport system (Rea Vaya) and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Top Six Taxi Association. Today, following relevant consultation, we are signing yet another Memorandum of Understanding with the Greater Johannesburg Regional Taxi Council.
This memorandum of understanding provides a broad framework for the ongoing interaction on transport issues between the City of Johannesburg and the Taxi Associations.
We, in the Johannesburg Council, wish to express our full support to both the Greater Johannesburg Taxi Council and the Top Six Taxi Association for establishing a joint steering committee which is in itself a historic development.
It is important to remind ourselves that the taxi industry occupies an important place in our economy:
The City of Johannesburg has a population of 3,7 million and the average travel time to work is about 1 hour and 78 minutes when there is a transfer from taxi to taxi;
Public transport users spend more than 10% of personal income to travel to work;
63% of households do not own any car;
14% of public transport trips are made on trains, there are 55 railway stations and some of the busiest being the Johannesburg Park station, Langlaagte, Roodepoort and Stretford; and
72% of all public transport trips are made on taxis.
The City of Johannesburg recognise the centrality of the transport system to our economy in general and the role that the taxi industry plays in economic growth and development.
The conservative estimates indicate that our population will increase by an additional 3, 5 million people in the next quarter of a century.
Given the nature of the Gauteng Province and especially the interconnectedness of the three metros: Johannesburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni there is a clear need for a closer collaboration and partnership amongst the various spheres of government and stakeholders. The important role of transport and the key role of planning and urban management is self evident.
Such planning should amongst others take into account questions such as:
congestion and traffic gridlock and how it impacts on productivity and economic growth;
concerns about industrial pollution, air quality and noise levels;
a disturbing increase in the number of informal settlements;
the need to look into the future, predict and anticipate human settlement patterns; and the
business nodes and areas of economic activity;
The need for ongoing fight against crime and the management of grime.
There is a growing consensus among transport experts worldwide that steps should be taken to minimise the impact of private vehicle use in our cities.
On a global stage, we have noted how city governments from Singapore to Sydney and from Toronto to Tokyo are developing strategies to discourage the use of private vehicles. Solutions put forward vary from the imposition of high parking fees in inner cities and expensive tolls to the outright banning of certain types of vehicles during certain times of the day in specific areas (e.g. CBDs).
In Johannesburg we are convinced that the introduction of an affordable, safe, clean, fast, effective and efficient public transport system will form a key part of response to these challenges. The Strategic Public Transport Network plan has been in the public domain for some time now and out of this grew the initiative for the Bus Rapid Transit transport system.
I am pleased to report that in August this year I visited the Cities of Bogota and Pereira in Colombia, where, together with a delegations from the Taxi Associations present here today, some technical advisors and government officials we had the opportunity to look at the bus rapid transit transport system called the TransMilenio (Transmilenia). This visit confirmed positive elements of similar systems that are already being implemented in cities such as Brisbane, Boston, Beijing, Los Angeles and Jakarta.
It is important for me to state that, we went to Colombia not to copy what the Colombians do but to identify best practice and to adapt it to our own specific Johannesburg reality.
The most important feature of Rea Vaya is that buses will travel along dedicated median busways rather than kerbside bus lanes. These busways will have a distinct colour surface to separate it from the lanes used by ordinary traffic.
The busways will ensure priority movement for the buses and minimise conflicts with left-turning vehicles. Along most portions of the routes the system will operate with a single busway next to a mixed traffic lane in each direction.
Buses will travel along the major trunk routes at intervals of between 1 to 3 minutes during peak hours and no longer than ten minutes in off-peak periods. This transport system will operate between 05h00 in the morning and 12h00 midnight.
We envisage a situation where bus stations will be situated every 500 meters along the routes and passengers will enter these enclosed facilities through a system of pre-board fare collection that will include smart cards.
The construction of the Rea Vaya has already commenced and it will be completed in time for the Soccer Confederations Cup in 2009. By the time the first visitors for the 2010 FIFA World Cup arrive the new bus system will already be a distinctive feature of our City’s landscape.
A number of routes will be introduced during the first phase of Rea Vaya including:
Parktown to Ellis Park via Saratoga Avenue.
Dobsonville to the CBD via the Pat Mbatha transitway.
Lenasia to Sunninghill via Regina Mundi. Orlando, Highgate, Parktown, Rosebank and Sandton.
Alexandra to Randburg via Sandton.
From the Soweto Highway to Dobsonville; and
A CBD circle route.
We are pleased to note that this month we have also unveiled the City’s Transportation value symbols and key ideas. We believe that this will help us deepen the partnership with communities for better and quality transport. These five value symbols and ideas include the following:
Honesty
Respect
Co-operation
Ubuntu; and
Accountability
The taxi industry is well known for its spirit of entrepreneurship and I have no doubt that it will waste no time to seize on the arising opportunities.
I think it is quite clear that public transport will undergo massive changes in the coming few years. It is of vital importance that all of us should focus our attention on this future. If we fail to do so, new developments will simply overtake us and we will be rendered irrelevant.
Let us together build a stronger partnership for a quality transport system that is affordable, safe, clean, fast, effective and efficient.
Thank you
