Lisa Seftel Executive Director: Transport City of Joburg South Africa

Background and context

Current challenges

Political imperatives and policies that shape our transport policy and projects

Joburg’s public transport initiatives Tale of two cities or two tales about one city Lessons

3.5 million is the population and 1.8% is rate of population growth

Joburg contributes about 16 % to the national GDP

Unemployment is 23% of economically active people in 2010 but if those who have stopped looking for work are included, the number grows to >30%

67.4% of households live on less than R3200 per month with a large percentage of poor household’s income going towards transport

0.63 is the gini co-efficient - highest in world

56% is contribution of Joburg to national carbon emissions, 13% highest carbon emitting City in the world and Transport has the highest demand for energy (67%)

MODAL SPLIT

2002 Household Survey: 35 million daily trips 47% public transport trips

▪ 72% mini bus ▪ 14% rail ▪ 9% bus.

Poor public transport leads to

more car use despite high levels of congestion 2011 survey estimated that 78%

of 3.8 million drivers on Joburg roads are stuck in severe traffic jam daily

RESPONSIBILITY SPLIT

National: Freeway system, passenger and freight rail

Provincial: Some bus subsidies, public transport regulation, speed rail - Gautrain

Local: Municipal bus services, BRT, local road and public transport infrastructure

Private: Mini bus taxi industry, metered taxis.

STATE OF TRANSPORT

Systematic under investment in transport Road network: 80% of road

network has pavement structure of over 20 years

Rail rolling stock: average age 35 years, no infrastructure upgrade for 20 years

Metrobus: No bus less than 5 years old

Taxi recapitalisation not succeeded

Public transport facilities: 500 ranks, only 49 designated, 15 properly managed

NEW ‘CATALYTIC’ PROJECTS

Gautrain: 90 km high speed train linking

airport to old and new CBDs of Joburg and Pretoria

Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit 25.5. kms operational linking CBD

and Soweto Planning for further 125 km high

quality BRT Gauteng Freeway Improvement

Scheme R32 billion project aimed to

upgrade national road network around Joburg

‘Stuck’ in e-tolling/user pay principle controversy

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

New National Land Transport Act (2009) providing a framework for regulation and transformation especially BRT, mini bus taxi

Public Transport Strategy and Action Plan – with ‘seed capital’ from Public Transport Infrastructure and Systems Grant in run up to Soccer World Cup and continuing

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

Introduction of Gautrain to: Set new standard of public

transport Get car users out of their cars Spatial restructuring and

agglomeration/densification Economic growth and job

creation Global City Region

Co-operate internally to compete effectively externally

Regional vs. City transport authority but not taken off

Outcome 1: Improved Quality of Life

Long term goal: Promote human and social development by addressing food security, poverty, learning, healthcare and social stability to substantially enhance quality of life

Outcome 2: An inclusive, job intensive, resilience and competitive economy

Long term goal: Mobilize economic forces for shared, sustained and sustainable long term growth

Outcome 3: Sustainable and resilient urban infrastructure contributing to a low carbon economy

Long term goal: Lead sustainable and eco-efficient infrastructure (housing, transport, energy, water, waste and sanitation) solutions to build environmental resilience and liveability

Outcome 4: A progressive, responsive and efficient local government

Long term goal: A well governed institution that makes best use of its resources for the benefit of our communities

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Key concepts: resilience,

sustainability, liveable

urbanism

Integrated Transport Plan tries to: Identify correct mode for level of

demand and key public transport nodes and corridors

Done in 2003 and doing again for 2013

Spatial planning (Development Frameworks, Growth Management Strategy) tries to focus investment 1km away from public transport corridors

Not sufficiently successful: Data difficult to gather Private sector investment difficult

to direct Public sector investment limited

• Flagship City project – “We are going”

• Objectives include:

• Fast, safe, reliable and affordable public transport

• Public transport transformation - including of mini bus taxi industry to prosperous transport businesses

• Spatial restructuring

• Broad based black economic transformation

• Mitigate against climate change and reduce air pollution with ‘clean buses’

• Promote livable and competitive city

PHASE 1A

• 25k of trunk route (dedicated) for 18 m articulated buses

• 3 complementary and 5 feeder routes using 13 m buses and covering 75.8 km

• 30 Rea Vaya stations service passengers

• Passenger numbers average of 42 000 per day

• 143 Euro 1V buses • Over 6000 short term employment

opportunities, 830 permanent employment

• 585 taxis taken off competing routes • Carries 7.7% of Soweto’s public

transport market

PHASE 1B

• Under construction and operationalisation

• 18km of dedicated trunk route • 2 complementary and 5 feeder routes • 17 more stations • Anticipate 65 000 daily passengers • 134 Euro IV buses

• Phase 1C in planning

Infrastructure: Building on the basis of international best practice, adding in some local features and innovation, delivered in record time

Intelligent Transport Systems (APTMS and AFC): Rolled out world class security, information, communication and monitoring system. Presently rolling out bank based automatic fare collection

Operations: Began operations with interim company, management contract with City bus company, hired depot, no staff, drivers all from taxi industry after accelerated training. Operations continued with patronage support despite violence, 1 passenger killed over 13 injured in first year.

Bus procurement: City tendered and purchased 143 Euro IV buses for handing over to BOC. Over 18 months of operation on a guarantee before first ever BNDES deal in SA to provide bus funding at 3.2.% interest rate

Bus operating company formation: First bus operating company 100% owned by affected operators from the mini bus taxi industry, after one year of negotiations facilitated by an independent facilitator and with independent technical support.

Modal shift: October 2010 – 67% from mini bus taxis, 17% from rail, 11% from rail and 5% from car

Municipal bus: Plans to ‘unbundle’ municipal owned company of 450 buses into operating model resembling Rea Vaya and integrate but challenges in respect of funding and labour and political resistance

Mini bus taxi: Weak regulation and levels of organisation further undermined by introduction of Rea Vaya. Looking at models to recapitalise using green fleet/sources of funds but feasibility or interest not determined

Passenger rail: National project to reinvest in rolling stock –R10 billion over 10 years – including setting up local manufacturing industry. Also moves to devolve to local level

High speed rail (Gautrain): Transports 39 000 passengers on train and 12 000 on bus at higher fare than most public transport users can afford. Developed as a public private partnership but cost fiscus R35 billion. Has been able to attract increased investment around stations but success as a transport project too early to tell…

Focus on transfers, stops, ranks, sidewalks and holding areas as well as fleet critical to public transport success

Have introduced: New model public transport

facility – low maintenance, integrated, sustainable

New commuter shelters for all road based mode which have passenger information, seating and are universally accessible

Streets Alive programme (see next slide)

Promotion of cycling (despite present low volumes) through: ▪ Dedicated routes ▪ Increasing accessibility ▪ Education and safety

The Streets Alive Programme is a programme to change how we use the streets of Joburg: Complete streets: Building streets to

for all users: car users, public transport users, pedestrians and cyclists ▪ Increased focus on sidewalks ▪ Managed/dedicated lanes for public

transport, cycling, freight ▪ Storm water harvested for landscaping

Open Streets: Closing streets to vehicle use on certain days for health and recreation purposes

Transport values: Changing behaviour so that residents act to make streets safer for all

Law enforcement: Ensure zero tolerance against poor driver behaviour

• lasting home • Done through:

• Promotion of values of respect, honesty, accountability, co-operation and ubuntu

• Building co-responsibility through community and stakeholder partnerships especially on road safety

• Carrot and stick measures of TDM e.g. Park and Rides or closing certain streets to vehicular traffic (not significantly implemented yet)

Which tale will the Executive Director of

Transport tell in 50 years time?

Significant funding was made available for legacy public transport projects

Today the infrastructure is in tatters – vandalised and inhabited by squatters

The first BRT company owned by the taxi industry did not succeed – once a taxi owner, always a taxi owner!

Densification around BRT routes to improve patronage failed to materialise due to lower than anticipated population growth rates

Revitalisation of rail failed because investment in new trains sets was not matched by infrastructure upgrades

Private car use got a new lease of life when oil from shale became commercially available

And so while our City fathers had significant foresight, what they did was too little, too late and our generation has inherited white elephants, poorly connected

public transport and on going congestion

Today Joburg is a public transport City due to:

Appropriate targeting of investment to rail, BRT, mini bus taxis, walking and cycling Passenger rail and freight rail returned as the backbone of the transport system

What do we have: Rea Vaya rail, BRT and conventional bus with high levels of integration Rea Vaya BRT look and feel was reproduced in different ways for taxi ranks, bus shelters etc. People supported to use public transport through way finding, signage, attractive and safe

pedestrian, pathways and cycle storage

Funded primarily from rates base as the City recognised that public transport provision and the reduction of public transport was good for a sustainable City Complementary funding from international green funding

Stadium legacy was not so successful but used annually for a vintage car exhibition aimed at school children

Significant funding was made available for legacy public transport projects – and what a legacy that was….

A catalyst is only a spur or a start. For catalysts to be sustainable and transformative, they can’t be a stand alone catalyst for too long.

Such high levels of investment should be followed by commensurate investment and energy in integration of nodes, behavioural change and public transport infrastructure

If not these projects may end up as ‘white elephants’ and majority of residents will remain ‘stranded’ in:

their private car on a congested highway or

in poor quality unreliable public transport. Investment and energy must be :

Appropriate to local circumstances

Appropriately sequenced

Supported by appropriate institutional arrangements

Underpinned by:

▪ sound yet dynamic and iterative transport and land use planning processes

▪ long term funding strategy. Conventional approaches are not sufficient to change intransigent patterns of poor public

transport. Also required are high levels of political will , co-responsibility and partnership.

This requires appropriately balancing and integrating: Providing, modernising or

transforming the ownership of buses, rail or other fleets

Making public transport infrastructure (transfer points, bus stops and sidewalks accessible) safe and attractive

Enabling behavioural change (encouraging public transport switch e.g. through high levels of passenger information, ‘biking is cool’ campaigns and making private car use more difficult)

We have been fortunate over the last 10 years to have flagship transport projects in Joburg such as Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit Gautrain rapid rail link Gauteng Freeway Improvement Scheme with electronic tolling

However at the same time, while: Gautrain managed to raise billions of rand for the construction of the network,

they struggles to find cents to introduce TDM measures to improve patronage.

Rea Vaya had millions of rand to purchase Euro IV buses, Metrobus struggles to find funding to replace gear boxes.

Our freeways have been significantly upgraded, the City of Joburg does not have sufficient budget for road markings and street signs

Thus to ensure on going success of flagship projects and overall transport

transformation, there needs to invest commensurately in other modes and integration determined up front and appropriately sequenced – and invest more appropriately in the flagship projects.

For this a medium to long term plan identifying an appropriate role for each mode and a road map to get there which has political, policy, stakeholder and public transport operator support is required.

OBSERVATIONS

One can plan and collect data forever Very hard to collect reliable

information when public transport is informal (and often illegal) Operators may perceive that information

will be used against them in a formalisation process

Planning is expensive in resource constrained environments

Good understanding of origins and destinations is critical

Need iterative process with land use information and future plans

Need to plan for the future with the past in mind and not just plan to overcome the past.

CONSIDERATIONS

Need to at least: Determine the best mode for

the current and future projected level of demand

Networks for what modes and how roll out should be sequenced.

Can be followed by separate operational plans with financial models and risk assessments for a particular route or area when funding is imminent

Growth and Development Strategy

Long term

30 – 50 years

Vision and outcomes

Integrated Development Plan

5 year

Outputs

Sectoral plans Integrated Transport

Plan Spatial Development

Framework

Operational plans for modes

Urban development frameworks for precincts

Learning from international experience is inspiring and useful, but congruence with the local circumstances and conditions is important for ensuring projects are:

Resilient

Sustainable

Responsive

May need to ask hard questions:

For example whether and how something like IT S should be applied in developing countries

Should we evaluate our projects against international standards or locally shaped criteria?

Being appropriate for local circumstances can also foster local innovation and entrepreneurship.

IS IT…..

Resilient: Easily maintained and managed – through the choice of materials and design (and not through the use of high tech security equipment or lots of paid security);

Sustainable: Affordable (not a very expensive structure) and green (harvesting of rain water, separation at source bins etc..);

Urban liveabililty: Responsive to the imperatives of safety and appropriately balances the needs of commuters, hawkers and public transport operators.

If we were to evaluate our new public transport facility against our local GDS criteria of resilience, sustainability and urban liveability…

OBSERVATIONS

Government’s govern with borders, transport crosses borders

Historical allocation of powers and functions not rational in the present or for the future

Catalytic projects are often politician’s pet projects

CONSIDERATIONS

A cake is a cake; however which way you cut it

Relationships (across government and with stakeholders) can achieve more than setting up structures

Begin with projects and move with institutional learning to more final structures

Co-ordination structures are better off being ‘minimalist’

Never underestimate ‘soft side’ institution building: Valuing and building staff

OBSERVATIONS

Provision of quality sustainable public transport is costly

For every $1 spent on infrastructure, provision must be made for maintenance and operational expenditure For Rea Vaya BRT ratio is

1:2.87 broken down as follows:

R1.81 Bus operations

R0.54 Station management

R0.17 Maintenance of stations and roads

R0.19 ITS

R0.16 Business unit

CONSIDERATIONS Primary source of urban public transport funding must be the fiscus

because: Part of social wage for the poor Improves urban effectiveness Improves economic competitiveness Cities are engines for nations

Fare revenue is a source but best way to increase fare revenue is through improved patronage as a result of TOD and TDM (vs.. fare increases – or introducing integrated ticketing)

Other sources are only complementary such as congestion charging, parking levies on non-residential parking, fuel levies, ‘carbon funding’ and from motor vehicle licenses because will not generate sufficient revenue to replace the role of the fiscus

Some funding measures have administrative and public acceptability challenges but are useful to look at because they have the advantage of disproportionally impacting on private car users and can also serve as travel demand measures

“There are three main issues that are becoming important not only for your city but for the whole of mankind. These relate…mobility, sustainability and tolerance or social diversity. Every time we try to create a solution, we have to have a good equation of co-responsibility with the public. That means it is not a question of money and it’s not a question of skill, it’s how do we organise the equation of co-responsibility”. Jaime Lerner (ex- Mayor Curitiba)

Transformation can’t happen from above or below only. It has to happen from above and below and in partnership.

Some examples that we have/are putting in place: Building a partnership with taxi

industry in the implementation of BRT, Active promotion of transport values Building community partnerships to

address problems of community road safety such as speeding cars and lack of sidewalks

Streets Alive – building open streets/cyclovia from Americas to demonstrate that streets are public open spaces and can be for people not cars

Public transport adventure where profile members of the community are challenged to find and travel to places of interest using public transport.

City has been blessed with far sighted, passionate and visionary political leadership who have consistently profiled and defended difficult decisions

Challenge going forward is for visionary individual leadership to be able to push for sustainable policy in the ruling party and government

Otherwise, once this political leadership is no longer there, the sustainability of their projects can likewise disappear.

Public transport vehicles need energy – and hopefully it should be clean and green energy.

But people are the real energy that drives delivery and transformation – from the station marshal to the bus driver to the committed professional and political champion.

For the City of Joburg to transform the “curse of the choo choo train” of the Stimela song into the charm of “Rea Vaya - we are going” and to make walking, cycling and public transport the mode of choice, the energy ingredient is critical.