October is Transport Month in South Africa, a fitting celebration for the sector in light of the current spending boom that is driving massive change in public transport networks across the country.

In his budget speech in February 2008, finance minister Trevor Manuel said “investments in public transport, which are made in partnership with our cities, are already beginning to reshape the urban landscape,” adding that the reforms go beyond the requirements for 2010.

The current level of change in South Africa’s transport sector is unprecedented in the continent, as the country prepares for the hosting of the 2010 World Cup, and nowhere is this more evident than in the country’s economic centre, Gauteng.

The province may be the smallest in terms of size but it is responsible for about a third of South Africa’s GDP and is home to a swathe of multi-billion rand transport projects including the Gautrain, the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project and the Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.

These projects demonstrate the scope of change that is being delivered to Johannesburg’s public transport network. The first phase of the BRT system, which will cover 150km of trunk routes across the city, is to be introduced in 2009, with two further phases in 2010 and 2013.

Bob Stanway, BRT Project Manager for the City of Johannesburg, notes however that the BRT system is not in competition with the city’s other transport systems such as the existing Metrorail service and the Gautrain.

“The BRT target market is existing taxi and bus users on the BRT routes, and as such they are mostly non-car owners, and relatively poor,” says Stanway.

BRT has stirred up some controversy in South Africa’s taxi community, however, who say they have been excluded from talks. In August, the South African National Taxi Council said Gauteng’s BRT system should be put on hold and called for a summit of all interested parties.  

In response the government says the aim of the BRT is to create greater and better job opportunities for current workers in the Taxi and Bus Industries, adding that it expects Phase 1 of the project to create about 51,000 jobs.

While the target market for the BRT is mainly non-car owners, Stanway says that based on experience in BRT systems employed elsewhere in the world, “it is estimated that up to 15% of existing car users living in close proximity to the BRT will switch.”

It is not just Johannesburg that will benefit from such a system. Stanway notes that other regions are also planning to introduce their own BRTs. “Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Metros are well-advanced in their BRT planning, and Tshwane is also planning BRT.”

Eddie Chinnappen, Cape Town's executive director for transport, says “the City of Cape Town is currently implementing an integrated rapid transit system, with a dedicated road on the N2, and a station at the airport that would take people through to Sea Point, where many of the city’s hotels are.”

The first phase of Cape Town’s integrated rapid transit system is expected to be completed by March 2010 comprising buses, feeder buses and taxi buses - and will eventually snake along the West Coast to Strand, Gordon’s Bay, Hout Bay and Fish Hoek.

Back in Gauteng, the Gautrain, a high speed train network, has been designed to reduce the severe traffic congestion in the Tshwane - Johannesburg corridor, as well as promoting business tourism between Sandton and OR Tambo International Airport.

“The model that was developed for the project focused on the middle to higher income commuters that use their cars on a daily basis between Tshwane and Johannesburg,” says Theo Maeder, Chief Director of Urban Transport at the Department of Transport (DOT).

In fact a survey that the DOT conducted in the planning phase of the Gautrain project revealed that 20% of the motorists currently using the Ben Schoeman Highway would make use of the Gautrain, equivalent to about 130,000 commuters per day. 

Maeder notes, however, that since the survey was conducted, “congestion has increased substantially on the Ben Schoeman Highway,” which could result in an even higher number of commuters choosing to switch to the Gautrain service.

The government’s long-term plan, not just in Gauteng but across all provinces, is to get more motorists off the roads and using public transport. “The Gautrain is seen as a catalyst project in the efforts to convince motorists to convert to public transport,” says Maeder.

“By 2020, the City of Cape Town expects 75% of people to have access to public transport within 500 metres of their home” - Eddie Chinnappen

Eddie Chinnappen agrees that public transport is an essential part of the government’s strategy going forward. “By 2020, the City of Cape Town expects 75% of people to have access to public transport within 500 metres of their home,” says.

Upgrading existing services such as Metrorail, for those already using public transport, has also seen the launch of the Tshwane Business Express between Tshwane and Johannesburg, as well as the Soweto and Khayelitsha Expresses.

The government is also working on the Moloto Rail project, which will deliver an integrated transport link between Gauteng and Mpumalanga, including rail, road and transfer facilities, which is designed to reduce travel time, as well as road accidents, on the corridor.

“The Moloto Rail project will have life changing effects on the people of Tshwane and Mpumalanga, an indication that Metrorail is gearing towards responding fully to the growing demands of passengers,” says Sam Monareng, spokesman for the Department of Transport.

However with the vast majority of the middle to higher income bracket still using their cars, the government has also set aside a total of R70bn to help fund road infrastructure projects across the country.

In Gauteng, the first province to reap the benefit of this money, the government has already awarded seven contracts, totalling R11.5bn, to upgrade a series of highways in Gauteng as part of the Gauteng Freeways Improvement Project, adding more lanes and improving interchanges.

Much of the transport infrastructure spending that the government has allocated is in direct response to being chosen to host the 2010 World Cup, and nowhere is this more the case than in the country’s airports, as it seeks to make the best impression on the incoming tourists as they arrive in the country.

Airports Company SA (ACSA) recently announced its spending on infrastructure rose more than 215% to R5.2bn last year, as part of its five-year R22bn capital expenditure programme on new infrastructure.

Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport is undergoing a major R3bn makeover, with a new Central Terminal Building currently under construction that will link the domestic and international terminals.

Image of the inside of Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport

The first phase of the project was opened in September 2008, with all international passengers flying into OR Tambo now arriving to a modern multi-storey atrium. The revamped international departures section is expected to open by the end of the year.

Cape Town International Airport is also being upgraded with R1bn being spent on a new terminal development, which is expected to complete by the end of 2009, and additional multi-storey parkades to accommodate a total of 6,000 passengers.

The South African Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC) has also completed a feasibility study on the possibility of providing a rail link between the city’s main airport and the CBD, and is now speaking to the City of Cape Town and its provincial authorities regarding the idea.

Eddie Chinnappen notes however that any such rail link would not be in time for 2010, as the proposal is currently going through an assessment phase.

Perhaps the greatest change, though, is taking place in Durban, with the construction of the new King Shaka Airport, which is expected to be operational in time for 2010, when the current Durban International Airport will be decommissioned.

The King Shaka airport will form part of the Dube Tradeport, a new international passenger and cargo airport facility that will operate as a major trade zone for KwaZulu-Natal.

Beyond the immediate needs of 2010, the government is also currently putting in place a major policy initiative on public transport, the National Transport Master Plan (NATMAP), which it plans implementing in five-year cycles, from now through to 2050.

“The main purpose of NATMAP is to provide a physical development plan that will define a framework for how our future state-of-the-art multi-modal transportation systems’ … decisions are to be made,” says the DOT’s Monareng.

While South Africa is the continent’s powerhouse, it is transformations like these, providing a reliable and effective transport system for all, from the poorest in society to international business people flying in for a meeting in Sandton, that will see places like Johannesburg claim their mantle of being world-class African cities.