Gauteng residents can expect an integrated transport plan for the province next year if everything goes according to plan, the Gauteng Transport Authority (TAG) says.
This is the commitment made by Jack van der Merwe, CEO of TAG, who has been tasked with starting the process of developing an integrated transport system in the country's economic powerhouse.
TAG was established in 2020 by the provincial government to integrate the planning of transport.
“The plan says these are the missing links in the transport in Gauteng, this is what we are going to build and this is how we are going to operate it. The document will come out early next year,” Van der Merwe said.
The Gauteng integrated transport plan sets minimum standards for transport facilities like taxi ranks and introduces sharing of information between different modes of transport. This is to help a commuter who, for example, takes a train and then a bus to get to work.
“You don’t want to get to the bus stop and have to wait another 30 minutes because the timetable of the train and the bus are not linked. There must be common information. That is why we are developing an app on your phone where you can have a look at what is happening,” Van der Merwe said.
The other task TAG is working on is the introduction of a single ticketing system for all modes of transport in Gauteng.
Gauteng commuters have a choice of using Metrorail, Gautrain, bus rapid transit services, minibus taxis and buses.
A commuter who uses three of these modes of transport has to carry three different cards to pay for each of the modes.
A single ticketing system will enable the commuter to load money into one card and be able to transact in different modes of transport. But Van der Merwe could not commit on when the technology would be available to the public.
“Overseas they use a system that allows you to tap your credit card, travel now, and pay later [which operates in the principle of a credit card]. In South Africa a large portion of our population cannot get credit cards. The card that the commuter has should be an electronic purse. It is a card where you pay now and travel later.”
Van der Merwe said this was a complex issue that would take a while to resolve.
“The technology for reading a card is there you can buy it and install it. The issue is the back office. How do we get a person who pays R581 for Metrorail a month to also use the Gautrain? The Gautrain will eat that money at R150 a trip,” Van der Merwe said.
He said technology was not the problem. “but with the implementation of a subsidy policy.
“We are running two pilots — on the Gautrain and in the taxi industry on the technology.”
With the single ticketing system there are also issues that have to be resolved relating to who should own the (money) float on the card should the commuter be transferred elsewhere and leave the money in the card.
TAG has been established to help bring synergy in the planning of public transport in the province.
Gauteng's three metros have three BRT systems with ticketing systems which are not linked.
TAG has an annual budget of R54m and with 20 staff members made up of town planners, engineers, data modellers and transport economists.
Co-ordination of public transport in SA is key to economic growth as a significant number of people use public transport in the country.
Gauteng has Metrorail, SA National Roads Agency, the three metros and two district municipalities who are implementing transport service and infrastructure projects in the province.
TAG is also moving the method of transport modelling from being a statistically based Transport Demand Model (TDM) which relies on sampling to a big data model which can tell where each commuter starts and ends their trip.
The big data modelling will be developed and kept up to date by TAG and made available to all those involved in transport in the province.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.