Rea Vaya opens east-west Joburg link after lengthy delay

THE second phase of the R3.8bn bus rapid transit (BRT) service Rea Vaya was finally commissioned yesterday, after years of difficult negotiation and discussions between Putco, Gauteng taxi associations and the City of Johannesburg.

Rea Vaya Phase 1B creates a vital east-west link in Johannesburg. There are no formal public transport routes that run on this axis, connecting Thokoza Park in the east with Braamfontein in the west.

Rea Vaya Phase 1B connects a series of schools, hospitals and universities along the trunk route, which has exclusive bus lanes. While yesterday’s launch was scheduled weeks ago, the city and its negotiators only reached an in-principle agreement less than a week ago.

Johannesburg mayor Parks Tau said the deal struck last week was “equitable”, and there was agreement on a “sustainable” business model requiring the removal of competing vehicles from the route and the scrapping of “old, unsafe cars”.

Minibus taxi drivers will undergo “extensive” empowerment programmes that will also train them to become bus drivers. Another important condition is the participation of the “affected operators” in delivering “interim services”.

A statement from the joint negotiating team said the hard work of phase 1A, which took four years to negotiate, had paved the way for a faster and smoother second phase.

While the final agreement is being drafted, the current operators of Phase 1A, Piotrans, will take on the operation of the service for the second phase until May. The second phase is expected to offer 69,000 passenger trips a day, while the first offers about 40,000 trips.

The integrated public transport infrastructure investments being made across SA, in all 12 major metros, will also be used to boost industrialisation, Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel said.

In the 2013-14 year the state has invested R5.6bn in integrated rapid public transport networks, Deputy Transport Minister Sindiswe Chikunga said.

Next year, R624m will be spent on 220 buses that will be bought by Cape Town and Johannesburg which will be fully assembled in SA, Mr Patel said.

Mercedes-Benz SA president and CEO Martin Zimmerman said its partnership with Marco Polo — which assembles buses for the BRT programme in Germiston — was an important one for the company and the world. Mr Zimmerman said Mercedes and Daimler Chrysler had “extensive experience” in working on and implementing BRT programmes elsewhere, most recently in Mexico City and in Turkey.