With a wealth of experience in the private sector – including a stint on London's underground – Bob Stanway is driving Johannesburg's ambitious public transport plan.

Bob Stanway, the City's new executive director for transportation

UNDER the City's new bus transport plan, there will be fewer taxis on the streets of Joburg, but no taxi operators and drivers will lose their jobs.

This apparent contradiction is core to probably the "biggest transportation project ever rolled out by the City of Johannesburg", says the City's new executive director of transportation, Bob Stanway. Buses will replace many taxis in the Rea Vaya bus rapid transit (BRT) system, which will cost around R2-billion and will be operational by 2009.

Stanway uses as his model the BRT systems of Latin America, such as the TransMilenio system in Bogota, Colombia, which comprises of thousands of taxis and buses "chasing passengers".

Before TransMilenio was set up, Bogota was filled with chaotic taxis clogging the streets, there was no bus transport system to speak of, and the city's citizens felt somewhat excluded from the administrators' transport plans.

"When the new system was introduced in Bogota, there were no net job losses," Stanway explains. The way this was handled, and the way he proposes this be done in Joburg, is to get former taxi drivers to become bus operators or to involve them in the maintenance of the new buses. Taxi operators will be encouraged to recapitalise their taxis, in exchange for a bus.

"The taxi and bus operators will together provide the bus operation."

Although discussions with the taxi operators are ongoing, there is "cautious interest" in exploring the possibilities. "They haven't said no," says Stanway, with a hint of a smile.

And, instead of being paid on the basis of how many passengers they transport, bus operators will be paid a flat rate per kilometre travelled. They will also sign a contract specifying speeds and levels of service required.

New model
The crux of the new model is a complete revision of the bus system. Buses will instead run in exclusive, dedicated lanes in the centre of existing roads; there will be six new routes.

In 2005 the City started implementing its Strategic Public Transport Network (SPTN), a public transport plan that made provisions for taxis and buses to run on 325 kilometres of special, left-hand public transport lanes. The SPTN has been adapted to this new model, a "much bigger intervention", Stanway says.

In phase 1 of the system, buses will operate from Lenasia to Sunninghill; Alexandra to Regina Mundi in Soweto; Dobsonville to Troyeville; Nasrec to Ellis Park; Randburg to the CBD; and on an inner city circle route.

Buses will be either 65- or 160-seaters, depending on passenger volumes. They will operate from about 150 stations, positioned half a kilometre apart, every three minutes in peak times and every 10 minutes in off-peak times. It will be possible to catch a bus from 5am to midnight.

Fares will remain similar to what they are at present, as an incentive to motorists to leave their cars at home. They will be in the form of a smart card, which will be accepted by the other forms of transport in the city – rail or Gautrain.

Stanway says he is mobilising a team to get the new system rolling. So far R1,029-billion has been raised from the national government, with the City working on what it will be able to supply. The private sector will come on board in the form of the provision of buses and operations. In recognition of the environmentally friendly aspect of the scheme, where fewer motorists on the roads means fewer carbon dioxide emissions, donors like the Clinton Foundation are also contributing.

Planning will continue this year, and construction will start in 2008.

Best transport team
Stanway, a gentle but very focused and smart man, boasts that he has "one of the best transport teams in the country" – it includes nine young black engineers, including six women.

"I like to think they see it as a good opportunity," he says. There are 25 professionals in the department, with the possibility of upping that to 55 once the new organisational structure has been filled.

Stanway is himself an engineer, qualifying as a civil engineer from the University of the Witwatersrand. He specialised with a master's degree in transportation from London University. He has over 30 years' experience in public transport and transportation planning, starting his working career with London Transport on the planning and construction of the underground, or tube, Jubilee Line.

His underground tunnelling experience has given him a foretaste of some of the challenges that the Gautrain is going to encounter.

In 1980 he started the first specialist transportation consultancy practice in South Africa; it grew into a nationwide business with a staff of more than 125, with offices in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town.

In 1995 he was seconded to the national Department of Transport to work on the new White Paper on National Transport Policy and its subsequent legislation.

National Act
Stanway says that his proudest contribution was drafting major parts of the National Land Transport Transition Act, which replaced all the pre-1994 transport legislation.

After three years of hard work on the Act, Stanway says he "was fortunate enough to be with previous minister of transport Dullah Omar in parliament in January 2000, when the bill was eventually approved".

Stanway's firm – Stanway Edwards Ngomane Associates - was taken over by the large United States consultancy of Booz.Allen & Hamilton. He felt he wanted to contribute some of his vast experience to the public sector, and although it was not an easy move, he has no regrets at leaving the private sector.

In all, Stanway has published over 25 papers and has lectured to post-graduate students at Wits University, the University of Johannesburg and the University of Pretoria. In 2005 he was invited to become a fellow of the South African Academy of Engineering, comprising 100 of the foremost engineers in the country.

This was followed by the South African Institution of Civil Engineers Chairman's Award for Meritorious Service to Transportation Engineering in South Africa, received in 2006.

Plenty on their plates
Besides Rea Vaya, Stanway's team has plenty on its plate. Together with the mayoral committee member for transport, Rehana Moosajee, the department has compiled a system of five values to inculcate responsibilities in commuters. It is hoped that this will restore people's confidence in the City's transport system, as well as get them to respect the City's assets – anything from buses and traffic signals to signs.

The five values are: respect, co-operation, accountability, honesty and ubuntu. Stanway says teaching the values will start internally, with core transport staff, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) and Metro Bus.

Educating school children about pedestrian safety has started, with help from the JRA, Metro Bus and the Emergency Management Services.

Metro Bus will also be implementing routes for the disabled. Routes for freight and hazardous materials are being worked out too.

Construction of taxi ranks at Cosmo City and Lenasia, in the north and south of Joburg, is getting off the ground and the fourth phase of the Baralink project in Soweto is steaming ahead. There are five phases to the construction, a R100-million scheme to improve public transport in Soweto.

Motorists will be pleased to know that the JRA has upped its performance levels, with downtime on traffic lights and signals going from 2 percent, 1 percent. Upgrading gravel roads to tar roads continues.

Stanway also keeps an eye on the Gautrain developments, making sure they integrate with city plans and city stations. He believes the Gautrain will make "a big impact" on the city.

A new highway - the N17, linking Nasrec, the N1 and Klipspruit Valley - is to be constructed in a R400-million partnership with the South African National Roads Agency.

The list of tasks goes on: the department is revisiting the City's parking policy in the CBD, looking at supply and demand, pricing and street and off-street parking.

Public transport as part of the City's Rea Vaya plan

Taxi recap
In addition, the taxi industry is generally under scrutiny by the City, with Stanway's department working with the province, the operators and the provincial operating licensing board. They need to agree on every route description for the new operating licences under the Taxi Recapitalisation Programme and to need to legalise ranks (most are illegal) and stopping places.

An intergovernmental charter, outlining the roles and responsibilities of each party in the provision of transport in Gauteng, was recently signed.

Being the head of transport, does Stanway ever use a bus or taxi? "I mostly use my private motor car - using exclusively low-sulphur diesel (50 ppm). I have on occasion used minibus taxis from home to work as [there is] a taxi rank quite close to where I live. There are no convenient Metro Bus or Putco bus services available."