Taking the streets back

Gauteng and the City of Johannesburg, together with EcoMobility, are putting the province and the city on a trajectory to make public transport part of people’s lifestyle.

Since the commencement of the City of Johannesburg’s monthlong EcoMobility Festival, which coincided with October Transport Month, the Gautrain has shown a substantial passenger increase of 7.7% on its train passenger trips.

On the first day of the festival the Gautrain recorded its highest Monday passenger trip count, with 60 120 passengers using the service on the day compared to the 55 800 average Monday passenger trips.

The bus service increased by 512 passenger trips, with 21 076 passengers using the bus service on the day, of which 2 934 were non-train users.

The recent increase in the utilisation of the Gautrain shows that commuters are making a conscious shift from private car use to public transport, and that they believe public transport is safe, reliable, accessible and affordable.

According to Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport Dr Ismail Vadi the goal is to make public transport more accessible, convenient and integrated.

“The EcoMobility Festival is proving that public transport is acces- sible and affordable and the recent increase of passenger numbers on the Gautrain system shows that public transport is the mode of choice” says Vadi.

In support of the EcoMobility Festival, Gautrain made the following adjustments to its services:

Additional eight-car train trips to depart from Hatfield at 5:56am and 7:26am on weekdays;

The weekday afternoon peak period (north and east-bound) has been extended and will commence approximately from 2:40pm (previ- ously 3:30pm);

Over weekends the trains will operate at 20-minute service intervals from 9am to 6pm. This means that three as opposed to two trains will operate each hour in each direction.

Furthermore, additional express bus services over and above the current Gautrain bus services will be introduced to service certain parkand-ride sites:

At Montecasino an additional 16 to 20 express bus service departures are planned in the peak periods. Prepaid tickets for the Gautrain bus service are available inside Montecasino at the Sins outlet during the following times: Mondays 9am to 10pm, Tuesday to Thursday 9am to 11pm, Friday and Saturday 9am to midnight, and Sunday 10am to 10pm;

At Brightwater Commons an additional 10 to 12 express bus service departures are planned in the peak periods. Prepaid tickets for the Gautrain bus services are available at the Caltex Waterfront garage, which is open 24/7;

Normal Gautrain bus services at 20-minute intervals will be running from Emperor’s Palace;

Normal Gautrain bus services at 20-minute intervals will be running from Melrose Arch; and

In Sandton, the existing Gautrain bus routes will be marginally impacted to operate on the EcoMobility public transport loop.

“These adjustments have proven that there is a need for public transport in our cities and that Gauteng is indeed moving the city region forward,” says Vadi.