|
Rea Vaya is the engine at the heart of Johannesburg's green policy for a cleaner environment. In time it will cut congestion, the number of vehicles on the road and their greenhouse gas emissions.
THE Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is the single largest climate change initiative ever undertaken by the City of Johannesburg; it will combat congestion, pollution and green houses gases.
It aims to deliver mass transit alternatives to commuting by private car. Being set up with the football World Cup in mind, it is designed to leave a lasting legacy that will modernise urban travel for millions of people well after 2010.
"Rea Vaya [will offer] an alternative form of fast, convenient and safe public transport .This will hopefully persuade people to switch their mode of transport away from private motor vehicles and will ultimately help to alleviate congestion in and around the city," explained the member of the mayoral committee for transport, Rehana Moosajee.
Furthermore, by replacing poor quality buses running on poor quality fuel with Rea Vaya's brand new fleet of buses, air quality would be dramatically improved, Moosajee said.
The new fleet will run on low sulphur diesel and will have the most advanced pollution reduction equipment.
Moosajee added that an extensive study was undertaken to determine the implications that Rea Vaya would have on green house gas emissions and the environment, which supported the implementation of the system.
"This detailed, on-the-ground analysis of passenger traffic conducted along the major trunk routes of the Rea Vaya corridor revealed an expected saving of 382,94 tons of carbon dioxide [CO2] as a result of the implementation of the Rea Vaya system by 2010. Operation of a Rea Vaya system through 2020 is estimated to save 1,6 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions," she said.
By using Rea Vaya's green buses, nitrous oxide will be reduced by thousands of tons per year.
"Sharing cars to take a journey means less traffic congestion, cleaner air, less global warning pollution and reduced fuel consumption. We are also keen to demonstrate the principle of 60 cars and their passengers being equal to one bus, as a way to cut traffic," Moosajee said.
The system
Rea Vaya, which means "we are going" in local lingo, will have three inter-connected levels of service. The largest buses - with a capacity of 90 passengers - will be articulated and referred to as trunk buses. These buses will only travel on the designated median lanes on the trunk routes.
Complementary buses will be able to pick up passengers at Rea Vaya stations on the trunk routes and will be able to operate on the kerbside. They will have a capacity of 60 passengers.
Finally, feeder buses - with a capacity of 32 passengers - will bring people from the outer areas that don't have direct access to the trunk routes. This will extend Rea Vaya's network to areas far beyond the main trunk routes. When complete, Rea Vaya will cover more than 300 kilometres of trunk routes across the city.
In the phase one network, buses will run in exclusive, dedicated lanes in the centre of existing roads and will operate from about 150 stations, positioned half a kilometre apart. They will run every three minutes in peak times and every 10 minutes off-peak and it will be possible to catch a bus from 5am to midnight.
One of the most important aspects of this new system is that it will be fully integrated with other transport networks. Rea Vaya will not be competing with other transport systems such as the South African Rail Commuter Corporation or the Gautrain.
Related stories:
|
