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Joburg "should be proud" to lead the way in
sustainable transport in Africa and the world, experts say at the Sustainable
Transport Awards in the US.
REA VAYA has earned the City of
Johannesburg a first place honourable mention at this year's Sustainable
Transport Awards, for the successful implementation of its first phase. Rea
Vaya is Africa's first bus rapid transit (BRT) system.
Rea Vaya wins a first place honourable mention in the Sustainable Transport Awards
India's first full BRT system, Janmarg in Ahmedabad,
was the overall winner. The awards ceremony was held on Tuesday, 12 January in
Washington DC, in the United States and was hosted by Enrique Penalosa, the
board president of the Institute for Transport and Development Policy (ITDP) and
a former mayor of Bogota, Colombia.
The Sustainable Transport Award is given
each year by the ITDP to a city that uses transport innovations to enhance
mobility for residents. Honourable mentions were received by four cities that were
recognised for creating new BRT systems that reduce carbon emissions and create
the most beneficial environment for pedestrians and cyclists.
An exceptional honourable mention went to Joburg
for creating Rea Vaya. Others honoured were Cali, in Colombia for transforming its
citywide BRT service with Masivo Integrado de Occidente; Curitiba, in Brazil for
constructing a new BRT line and city park on a former federal highway; and
Guadalajara, in Mexico for completing a full BRT system in less than two years
at an affordable cost.
"We are humbled and honoured that the Rea
Vaya BRT system received international recognition so soon after its launch by
an eminent international institution like the ITDP," said Rehana Moosajee, the
member of Joburg's mayoral committee for transport.
"It is a tribute to the determination of
the executive mayor and the political leadership of our city for remaining
committed to responding to the long-standing call by communities for
improvements in public transport and the transformation of historic ownership
trends in the public transport arena. Rea Vaya is also one of the mayoral
legacy projects that aim to leave a legacy beyond the 2010 FIFA World Cup™."
All the nominees were cities in developing
nations, a first in the six-year history of the awards.
Johannesburg launched the first BRT system
in Africa, and completed the first mass transit investments in the city since
the end of apartheid. Rea Vaya is the first public transit system to link the
previously disadvantaged Soweto to the central business district.
"In under three years, Johannesburg
opened a state-of-the-art BRT system that uses the cleanest buses on the
continent," said Manfred Breithaupt, a senior transport adviser and the project
director of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit, in Germany.
"Johannesburg's accomplishment against
enormous challenges and the upgrading of the corridor in Soweto with lighting
and sidewalks makes it an exceptional honourable mention."
The ITDP was established in 1985 and has
become an international leader in the promotion of environmentally sustainable transportation
policies and projects. Its selection committee consists of leading
international institutions working in the field of sustainable transport.
"The City of Johannesburg completed an
extraordinary project with the implementation of the first phase of its bus
rapid transit system, Rea Vaya," said Penalosa. "This is an incredibly
important precedent and [Johannesburg] should be proud to be a leader in
sustainable transport both in Africa and the world."
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