November 3 was the official launch of Disability Rights Awareness Month in South Africa. The national launch took place in eThekwini in partnership with, among others, the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government and eThekwini Metro. With the focus for the launch falling on affirming the rights of young persons with intellectual disabilities, the programme focused on two organisations whose mandate is to promote, protect and uphold the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities, i.e. the Durban Coastal and Mental Health (DCMH) and Special Olympics.

In an innovative and bold move to support mini-bus taxi operators, associations and regional taxi leadership improve their business, operations and services to commuters, the eThekwini Municipality launched Moja Cruise – its Taxi Incentives Programme (October 30).

Celebrating the role of the mini-bus taxi industry in the delivery of public transport in South Africa through the decades, pioneered out of sheer necessity during the years of apartheid, the Mayor, Cllr Zandile Gumede, invited representatives of the taxi leadership, to become involved in this new programme. “You have played a very important historical role in public transport. We acknowledge this and thank you, and we invite you to continue to do so with us, within an improved system for the City.”

“As we usher in a new era for public transport, we assure you that as government, we are walking side-by-side with you in creating solutions to the challenges that you face,” she said to the gathering of about 550 people including representatives of mini-bus taxi industry, politicians and City officials.

“We have and will continue to engage with the leadership of the industry, to develop a way in which operations can be improved and eventually incorporated within the new system.”

Cllr Gumede explained that as the growing needs for cities across the globe to become more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable in line with the United Nation’s New Urban Agenda, the eThekwini Municipality, will be rolling out GO!Durban, its long-term public transport plan, which includes the current public transport operators.

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, Mr Mxolisi Kaunda has given provincial government’s support for the programme.

As a building block towards the new system, Moja Cruise has been created as a voluntary programme, which will begin as a pilot or test case in about four to to eight weeks time, with an expected 500 taxis initially enrolled. These taxis will be branded and easily identifiable as participants within the programme, and will include taxis from all Associations within the eThekwini Municipality. The successes and challenges of this pilot will help inform the future roll out of the programme throughout the Municipality.

Devised to improve operators’ businesses through better services to the commuters, and drivers rewarded for excellence, Moja Cruise will focus on providing an efficient, friendly and safe experience for customers.

The launch revealed some of the details of the programme, which will track vehicles and obtain feedback from the various structures like rank marshalls, associations and state-of-the-art tracking systems. Eventually commuters will be asked to rate their experiences. This will all feed into a system, which rewards the drivers and operators for excellence on a monthly basis.

Going forward, the City plans to develop public-private partnerships to support a bigger rewards programme which will help add value to the business operations of the taxis such as discounts on tyres, services and insurance, amongst others.

Preparations are in place to brief the industry ahead of the implementation of the programme towards the end of the year.

The Universal Access at the prototype station at the intersection of Regent Street and Qashana Khuzwayo Road in New Germany, for GO!Durban, the eThekwini Municipality’s improved public transport network, was recently tested.

GO!Durban stations are currently being built along the first route running from Pinetown to KwaMashu, and these stations will be what is globally known as “universal access” compliant. This means that people with disabilities such as those with hearing or visual impairments as well as in wheelchairs and including the elderly, people with babies in prams, or with bicycles have ease of access into the stations and buses.

The pavements leading into the stations and walkways within the stations leading into the control entrances will have tactile paving indicating where to walk. Voice prompts as well as visual prompts within the station and on buses will also be a feature. Wider access points will also mean easier travel for those in wheelchairs, or those with prams.

The control access points within the station comprising turnstiles and a Glastile wide gate for those with disabilities, especially those in wheelchairs and pushing prams were recently tested by two people in wheelchairs.

Technicians and experts were on hand to obtain feedback from them and test the timings to ensure ease of access.

The rehabilitation of the parking and traffic flow servicing the area along Qashana Khuzawyo Road, between the Escomb Road and Blase Road intersections in New Germany, is now complete. Parking and traffic here has, for some time, been disrupted due to the widening of Qashana Khuzwayo Road to make way for the dedicated bus lane running in the median, and the construction of the pilot station for GO!Durban (the City’s new integrated rapid public transport network (IRPTN)). The new system’s first route from Pinetown to KwaMashu is earmarked for completion in 2018.

According to the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA), the new configured parking plan allows for an easier flow of traffic with angled parking bays and provision made for more efficient loading areas for this busy shopping and business hub.

Thami Manyathi, Head of the ETA, says that the new GO!Durban system with the new station at Regent Street, will result in increased foot traffic, bringing critical mass to this area and the promise of economic spin-off for these businesses.

(07/10/17)

As part of the City’s Transport Month initiatives, Mayor, Cllr. Zandile Gumede, unveiled the new Cartwright Taxi Rank. The state-of-the-art rank is situated alongside Charlotte Maxeke Street. Speaking at the official opening, the Mayor said that the rank would give our commuters back their dignity.

The taxi rank boasts modern design with dedicated ablutions for people with disabilities, baby changing facilities, vehicle washing stalls which will house small business vendors.

The entire rank is secured by fencing with lockable sliding gates and tarred floors.

During the construction, over R600 000 was spent on sub-contractors to ensure the SMME development and local economic development was in line with radical economic transformation principles.

Job opportunities for local people were created to ensure local economic empowerment and job creation.

“Rank users and the public at large need to safeguard this rank and all other municipal public facilities from vandalism. The City is incurring billions of rands in debt to fix and repair vandalised facilities. This limits our ability to invest and provide new facilities to all 110 municipal wards,”said The Mayor.

eThekwini Municipality engages with automotive industry to promote manufacturing in the City

The eThekwini Transport Authority, recently held a ground-breaking workshop which was well attended by automotive industry stakeholders. The workshop was a significant move ahead of major tenders being advertised for the procurement of buses for the new GO!Durban IRPTN. It is part of the network’s endeavour to encourage meaningful transformation and renew manufacturing in this sector in the City.

The workshop aimed to enlighten stakeholders on GO!Durban’s progress and the government policies in relation to the procurement of fleet that will be required for this new network. Recent changes in procurement legislation that have been introduced by national and local government prioritizing localization were presented. The industry was encouraged to look at creative ways to work together to achieve true and meaningful transformation in this sector.

Speaking on behalf of the eThekwini Municipal Mayor, Andre Petersen, Head of Supply Chain Management said “This marks another important step for local Government, as we continue this long journey to transform society within the framework of National Government’s Radical Economic Transformation policy. We trust this will have a long-lasting effect on economic development and growth within our Municipality.”

About 150 automotive industry representatives, public transport operators, business people and entrepreneurs gathered at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre on Wednesday, August 30 to discuss some vital issues that will ultimately affect the efficient running of future public transport in the eThekwini Municipality, and by extension the people of the City. Petersen explained that GO!Durban is serving as a major catalyst for economic growth and development in the City. He went on to say that while government provides the platform for economic growth and development, acting as an enabler for this to take place, the private sector needed to work closely with government to enable meaningful transformation for those that have been excluded in the past.

“Together, we need to look at ways in which the private sector can be involved in the future success of GO!Durban,” he further explained. “The GO!Durban Empowerment Charter with its provisions attached to the numerous awarded contracts, that aim to accelerate the inclusion of previously marginalized individuals, has resulted in some significant shifts for local businesses. Since 2014, when construction of the GO!Durban network began, close to R1.2 billion has been made available for subcontractors, almost R372 million has been injected into enterprise development, and R526 million spent on 155 business beneficiaries with some 22 500 job opportunities created.”

Head of the eThekwini Transport Authority, Thami Manyathi, presented an update on the GO!Durban project and gave an overview on the fleet requirements for the first phase of the upgraded public transport system. Manyathi said that around 200 rigid buses, 180 articulated buses and 765 midi-buses will be required for the new system over the next 5 years. In addition, 250 commuter buses will be required as part of the replacement programme for the existing City Public Transport contracts. He said the bus delivery timeline is estimated for the second half of 2018 and that a first tranche of R1.2 billion is planned for the fleet for the C3 route that runs from Pinetown through New Germany and KwaDabeka to Bridge City, KwaMashu. He said that the City will be advertising these tenders within the next few weeks, and because of the nature and size of the tenders, an extended submission period will be provided to give businesses enough time to submit tenders to meet the transformation and local investment objectives.
The next tranche of tenders will cater for the C9 route from Bridge City via Phoenix Industrial and Cornubia to Umhlanga, as well as fleet to be used in the Inner City.

Manyathi explained that the magnitude of the GO!Durban project over the long-term and requirements into the future, supports investment confidence. “This will help strengthen the manufacturing sector, and link component suppliers to fleet production processes in order to achieve enterprise development and expand capacity to maintain the fleet.”

Key to the unlocking and growing of the local economy is the practice of localization, a topic covered by a number of the speakers including Catherine Matidza, Director of Industrial Procurement at the Department of Trade and Industry, Riaaz Haffejee, CEO of the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers, and facilitator Dionne Kerr of Siyakha, a management consulting firm that specialises in implementing Enterprise Development. Ms Kerr said that the notion of merely having a BEE certificate is “misguided”. “What will drive transformation is local content and a local to site approach. With GO!Durban, a R23 billion project for this City, this is a perfect platform to achieve it.”

Tshitso Mafole from Gibela Consortium, which has the contract to produce the new rolling stock for PRASA, and are themselves currently grappling with transformational processes and empowerment opportunities within this industry, provided valuable insights into their procurement process, which is focused on localization, underpinned by quality. The GO!Durban network will integrate rail and bus services across the City and the ETA are working in partnership with PRASA to achieve this.

Importantly, the gathering was reminded that the tender inclusion of the radical economic transformation framework objectives means that every contract to the value of more than R30 million must set aside 30% for black small businesses, especially youth and women owned and prioritize skill development.
Presentations from the workshop are available on the GO!Durban website godurban.local:8890. The tenders will be advertised by the City’s procurement processes, and a compulsory briefing will be held in conjunction with this.