Bus Rapid Transport systems like Rea Vaya cut commuting time dramatically
Bus rapid transit (BRT) lanes are re-making South Africa’s main cities and cutting commuting time and costs for thousands of working people. Meanwhile, in Mpumalanga, the country’s first new rail line in three decades is shifting shipments of coal from road to rail, cutting down on pollution and protecting the roads.
What do these projects have in common? They belong to the major transport initiatives in the national infrastructure plan, which is being implemented under the Presidential Infrastructure Coordination Commission (PICC).
Quality and cost-effective transport is important for any modern economy, but for South Africa it is critical.
Apartheid left the country with sprawling urban settlement patterns. Many working people are located far from work and amenities. Public transport is a major priority as part of building more integrated, safe, affordable and reliable towns and cities. It is about quality of life but also about economic productivity. The long, tiring hours spent in commuting by millions of South Africans represent a huge drain on our economy.
There are other spatial challenges we face. South Africa’s dominant economic centres emerged historically around the mines in today’s Gauteng. Many of our country’s exports and imports depend on long logistics lines between coastal ports and an inland economic hub. Here the challenge is to ensure seamless and cost effective logistics infrastructure. At the same time, we also need to ensure that transport infrastructure supports better connectivity between mines and local beneficiation, between farms and local agro-processing. Our transport infrastructure must support export earnings as well as local industrialisation and job creation.
Finally, decades of underinvestment in rural areas under apartheid makes it harder for people in large parts of the country to take advantage of economic opportunities. Under apartheid, the former “homeland” areas were deprived of quality local roads and access to regional routes. Since 1994, we have gone far to overcome these backlogs, but much more still needs to be done.
Taken together, these realities mean that transport must always be high on the infrastructure agenda in South Africa.
In response, the National Infrastructure Plan includes a number of Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs) that centre on transport, in addition to transport elements in many other SIPs. (See The SIPs that plan to move you.)
Already, major projects are under way. They include substantial expansion in the ports at Durban, Ngqura and Saldanha; the roll-out of BRT systems in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Tshwane and other metros; bigger and more modern trains for Prasa and Transnet; and an extensive programme to upgrade municipal and provincial roads across the country.
Over the past five years, almost 1500 kilometres of new roads and lanes were built. Furthermore, over 25000 kilometres of roads were maintained, with potholes fixed.
The transport system is more than roads and rail, however. It also requires vehicles for both people and freight. As investment grows in the transport system, the demand for transport equipment expands, providing an important new stimulus for industrial development.
Bus manufacturing factories in Cape Town and Gauteng were expanded and developed to provide more than 500 buses for the Gautrain project and the MyCity and Rea Vaya bus rapid transport systems. As a result, it has provided jobs to more than 400 people and is developing plans to export buses. Similar programmes are underway to build buses for 10 other cities. This is important, because historically, many municipal buses were imported. Building them in South Africa means more jobs for our people as well as laying the basis for a more sophisticated economy.
Similar progress has been made with other transport equipment.
Over the four years to September 2014, Transnet delivered more than 10 000 new train coaches or wagons (all manufactured locally) and more than 330 locomotives (of which 319 were locally assembled). Prasa plans to buy 600 passenger trains (which could carry 1 300 passengers each) in the next 10 years. They will largely be built in new factories in South Africa, generating 1 500 new jobs.
Until two years ago, all of the minibus taxis on our roads were imported. Today, over half are produced locally in new assembly plants.
Transport is central to inclusive growth and job creation in South Africa, from commuters to freight, to factories to supply new buses, taxies and rolling stock, to enterprises that can ship their products more cheaply and quickly. The transport programmes in the National Infrastructure Programme are moving South Africa forward.
Dr Molefe Pule is the chief director of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission