Only a small number of Gauteng motorists on Thursday appeared to have heeded the government’s call to participate in Car-Free Day.
Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said the volume of traffic on the highways was ”a little less”, with some people riding in and out of the city in car pools and buses.
Car-Free Day is a government initiative to get residents to use public transport in an attempt to reduce traffic.
Ekurhuleni metro police spokesperson Vusi Mabanga said traffic flow in the area was the same, with the usual traffic back-up on the Geldenhuys interchange in Germiston.
”Nothing appears to have changed. We have had our normal accidents happening, with six reported in the northern region and eight in the southern part since 6am this morning,” said Mabanga.
In Tshwane, metro police spokesperson Director Johan Vosloo said not much difference had been noticed but that he was still waiting for a full report.
Minister walking
Minister of Transport Jeff Radebe was walking and taking taxis in the Pretoria city centre on Thursday, raising awareness of Car-Free Day.
The Department of Transport said fewer cars on the road will improve road safety and bring down pollution levels.
Radebe was walking from various bus and taxi terminals in the city, distributing pamphlets about Car-Free Day and the department’s other initiatives to lower traffic congestion.
He was to be joined by Gauteng transport minister Ignatius Jacobs and other officials before the start of the official programme at Sammy Marks Square in the city centre.
Radebe and Jacobs will address the gathering before handing out bicycles to school principals and cycling around the venue.
Bicycle initiative
In the Western Cape, Oudtshoorn children forced to walk long distances to school have been identified as the first beneficiaries of a provincial initiative to encourage a culture of safe cycling.
Provincial minister of transport and public works Marius Fransman will distribute 100 new bicycles to Oudtshoorn learners on Car-Free Day. More bicycles will be distributed to other needy commuters in upcoming months.
”We want to raise awareness about the benefits of alternative forms of transportation, including walking and cycling,” Fransman said in a statement on Thursday. ”We recognise, however, that our people can only be encouraged to cycle in a relatively safe cycling environment.
”For this reason, my department is involved in a number of projects to facilitate the provision of safe pedestrian and cycling paths.
”We must redesign the road space to facilitate safe walking and cycling. There are too many good, wide roads with narrow muddy pavements and/or inadequate lighting.”
‘I wasn’t prepared to take a chance’
Democratic Alliance spokesperson for transport Stewart Farrow told the Mail & Guardian Online on Thursday that he had an early-morning meeting and had to rely on his vehicle because the Johannesburg suburb in which he lives does not have access to adequate public transport.
”There is a train station, but there are no taxis and no buses” nearby, and ”I wasn’t prepared to take a chance like the MEC [Gauteng minister of transport] did [in Pretoria]”, said Farrow.
However, he thinks Car-Free Day is a ”good idea to create awareness among people to use public transport”, but feels that the reliability of public transport should be addressed.
The DA is developing a model for community buses within identified suburban areas.
According to a document the DA sent to the M&G Online, the concept of the ”community bus” is needed to complete the public transport service.
”This concept models its implementation around community needs where routes go locally to those places they [commuters] find significant,” the document states.
‘Severely insufficient’
Paul Vorster, from the South African Society for Intelligent Transport Systems, told the M&G Online: ”The concepts of [Car-Free Day] are great. We are very supportive of the concept and the need to promote public transport.”
However, the public-transport system is ”severely insufficient”, he added.
”Our transport system as a whole is over-reliant on private transport. We are overusing our private transport and one can see this by all the congestion created on our roads,” said Vorster.
He said that if people have viable, safe and convenient public-transport options, then using public transport wouldn’t be a problem, but right now, ”they don’t have that”.
Recent travel surveys showed that 4,5-million workers and students use a car to travel to work or school.
The government is investing R2,7-billion to improve rail services, and R2,3-billion to better the bus subsidy system, the department said.
Another R7,7-billion has been set aside to improve safety in the taxi industry through the recapitalisation programme.