Building lasting legacy from lessons learnt
ALTHOUGH exact data, including figures from businesses in and around Sandton, is not yet available and despite grievances and “lessons learnt” during October’s EcoMobility World Festival, there is plenty to be positive about the event, says City Improvement District Manager for Sandton Central Management District, Elaine Jack.
“Remember, the objective of the festival, which was a pilot project, was to build awareness and showcase a future system where public transport, walking and cycling become the modes of choice,” she says. “The fact that, according analysis done by IBM, there was sentiment shared about the festival on social media, most of which was positive, indicates this was achieved.”
According to the IBM report, which was made available at a media conference on October 30, the festival had a minimum reach of 5.8-million people through Twitter with 6,100 people mentioning EcoMobility in about 17,000 tweets. The average reach via Twitter was 26-million and the festival had about 350-million Twitter impressions.
For Jack, though, it is what is planned for the future, either as a result of the festival or expedited by the lessons learned during the event, that is most important. “It’s these EcoMobility Legacy projects that we should be most excited about,” she says, detailing them as follows.
Motorists are promised less frustration caused by power outages with the ongoing installation of uninterrupted power supply (UPS) signals in traffic lights in the Sandton central business district.
Those using public transport will benefit from several initiatives. The Gautrain and Metrobus will continue operating nonstop buses from Westgate in Roodepoort, Brightwater Commons in Randburg and Montecasino in Fourways during peak hours, which essentially means the centres have become permanent park and ride sites. A permanent contraflow lane along Republic Road, William Nicol Drive and Sandton Drive will be operational from March for buses, minibus taxis and car pools. This is expected to reduce travel time for public transport users by up to 30 minutes during peak hours.
Construction will commence soon to convert the temporary dedicated public transport lanes along Rivonia Road, Fifth Street and Fredman Drive into permanent paths, at which point West Street will be included. Six commuter shelters will be built.
Cyclists are encouraged to continue using their bicycles to commute in and around Sandton. Construction will continue along West and Maude streets to create dedicated cycle lanes in both directions. (Sidewalks will also receive upgrades on these streets to accommodate pedestrians.) Safe cycling will also be increasingly accommodated between Rosebank and Sandton with many parts of the road being dedicated to bikes, including a cycling bridge over Sandton Drive to be built in partnership with Growthpoint and other developers.
Bike distribution programmes will continue. A programme will be launched for Region E (Alexandra, Sandton and surrounds) to provide cycling training, donations of bicycles and the establishment of a bike empowerment centre in partnership with Qhubeka, Freedom Ride and schools and community-based organisations.
According to the City of Johannesburg, the construction of the five kilometre dedicated cycling and walking lane between Alexandra and Sandton, including the bridge over the M1 at Grayston offramp, should be completed by the end of 2016.
Referring to the collapse of the scaffolding of the bridge and its tragic consequences last month, the city says it “will ensure all competent authorities grant the necessary approvals when the construction of the bridge section commences.”
“We know Sandton experiences frustrating levels of traffic congestion. The changes during October took some getting used to but the lessons learnt were valuable and the area will benefit from a lasting legacy,” says Jack.