The City of Johannesburg Transport Department and the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) are reviewing and developing an Inner City Transport Masterplan.
The Inner City Traffic and Transport Study in 2010 undertook an in-depth analysis of all existing traffic and transport issues in the Inner City.
It also considered the future development of the Inner City and its future transport demand.
The transport plan was a sustainable transport system that prioritised public transport and non-motorised transport. It detailed interventions that were required to ensure that the Inner City’s transport system is able to manage its travel in a sustainable manner.
Since 2010, a number of those identified short to medium projects have been implemented by the City. However, there have been changes to the public transport system through the implementation of Phase 1A and 1B of the Rea Vaya BRT, Soweto Highway and Empire-Perth Transit Oriented Development Node. The City is in a process of implementing Phase 1C of the Rea BRT along the Louis Botha Corridor to Sandton.
The Inner City continues to experience an increase in demand for road space due to shifts in travel patterns, increase in the number of minibus taxis, introduction of cross-border buses, urban renewal projects, the return of some businesses to the Inner City and the increase in overall demand for freight traffic which results in the demand for loading bays to accommodate freight transport. Other contributors to traffic congestion include pedestrians; who are forced to use the road space and compete with vehicular traffic due to the pedestrians’ competition with informal traders for the limited sidewalk space and ‘trolley pushers or recyclers’.
A Transport Masterplan will look at non-motorised transport as a priority followed by public and private transport modes. It looks at previous baselines of the transport systems, collects data for all transport modes in order to understand the current transport system functionality. The data to be collected include pedestrian movement, sidewalk conditions, public transport usage, freight movement, trolley pushers and long-distance/cross border bus services. A transport model is developed for the testing of impacts on transport of likely development scenarios.
The Transport Master plan will put forward targets to improve the transport in the Inner City.
The City of Johannesburg appointed a very experienced team of transport planners, traffic engineers, traffic modellers, public transport specialists, non-motorised transport specialists, urban designers and a public participation consultant in 2018. The development of the plan is expected to conclude by June 2021.
The development of the plan will involve extensive engagement with Inner City residents, commuters, businesses, property owners, taxi operators, bus services, taxi hailing services, trolley pushers and all interested parties.
If you are requested to give input for data collection on your journey and/or transport challenges we hope that you will assist us in better understanding transport in the Inner City.
Keep an eye out on the City of Johannesburg and JDA websites and social media for invitations to meetings and opportunities to download drafts of the plan for your review and comments.
For any questions on the plan, please email nobuntuc@joburg.org.za or NPingo@jda.org.za
