Question NW1030 to the Minister of Transport
14 November 2019 - NW1030
Waters, Mr M to ask the Minister of Transport
(1) What (a) number of hi-tech buses has the City of Ekurhuleni ordered for its bus rapid transit system and (b) is the total cost of the buses; (2) on what date (a) was the order placed and (b) were the buses supposed to be delivered; (3) whether all the buses were delivered; if not, (a) what number of buses have been delivered and (b) what are the reasons for the non-delivery of the outstanding number of buses?
Reply:
(1)(a) It must be noted that the City of Ekurhuleni does not directly order high-tech buses meant for the BRT system. The bus fleet is ordered and procured by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and later, the VOC after its formation. This is as per a Mayoral committee resolution on item A-RT (03-2015) at its meeting held on 24 June 2015 and the Joint Finance and Roads & Transport Oversight Committees meeting held on 23 September 2015 when considering the same item A-RT (03-2015).
(1) (b) The City only oversees the process to ensure that buses procured are per the stipulated standards & specifications and are funded within the prescribed financial parameters as outlined in item A-RT (03-2015).
(2)(a)(b)In view of best practices, an order would be placed subject to funding acquisition for the procurement of buses as outlined in the Grant conditions. The SPV is yet in the process of securing such funding. However, 10 buses were leased by the Special Purpose Vehicle from the supplier and were delivered in January 2019 so as to align and comply with operational requirements as projected in the staged roll-out plan of the BRT operations.
(3)(a)(b)The SPV could only lease buses as provided for in the financial model. The SPV is at an advanced stage of bus funding and procurement. Therefore, no buses have been delivered.
Currently operations are running with 8 city owned buses and 10 buses leased by the SPV. It is anticipated that the SPV will finalize the purchase of 32 buses (including the 10) it leases in October 2019. Adding these 32 to the 8 city owned buses the SPV is leasing will entail a fleet of 40 by the end of October 2019.
It is anticipated an additional 40 buses will be procured for operations in early 2021 for a total fleet of 80.