Question NW2079 to the Minister of Transport
13 July 2018 - NW2079
Ollis, Mr IM to ask the Minister of Transport
(1)Whether (a) his department, (b) the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa or (c) Metrorail had any meetings with the City of Tshwane and/or the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Transport in the City of Tshwane to discuss connecting future Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) systems in the City with existing Metrorail lines that are currently not in use, with a view to create a transport network connecting various modes of transport; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details of the meeting; (2) have any similar meetings been undertaken since the completion of the Gautrain in order to facilitate a one-ticket system for the Gautrain, Metrorail and the various BRT systems in the province; if not, why not?
Reply:
1. (a,b,c) Both the City of Tshwane (which receives Public Transport Network Grant funding from the DoT for its BRT/Integrated Public Transport Network) as well as Prasa, have at least since 2012 been reminded on several occasions to fully cooperate on planning for both road and rail based services that ultimately link up to form an Integrated Public Transport Network.
Key operational as well as mothballed rail lines (e.g. Hammanskraal) and services have been identified in the Tshwane IPTN plan since 2013 as well as in various Prasa strategies.
The City furthermore designed the currently incomplete A re Yeng Phase 1 service to link up with Prasa’s Kopanong Station in Shoshanguve, Wonderboom Station in Pretoria North, Pretoria Station in the CBD, stations in Sunnyside, Hatfield and finally Denneboom Station in Mamelodi. In addition, A re Yeng links with the Hatfield and Pretoria Gautrain stations.
The key challenge with regard to actually implementing an IPTN in Tshwane that includes both road and rail services, lies not in the planning or intent but rather in the slow implementation of getting viable services and infrastructure ready to operate. In this regard both the City as well as Prasa are well behind the envisaged timelines set in 2013.
The DoT, supported by National Treasury, is currently engaging with the City, amongst others, and Prasa to ensure that financially prudent and viable services are fasttracked that will lead to a tangible integrated network in Tshwane.
2. Over the past few years, the Gauteng Department of Transport and MEC have coordinated the various cities and Prasa to explore the possibility of having a single fare media for at least the subsidised services in Gauteng. The 2011 DoT regulations on Automated Fare Collection provides a platform (using bank industry payment media that is interoperable) for this.
Currently the three Gauteng metros have implemented a compliant smartcard system that can be made interoperable. Gautrain as well is in the final pilot testing stage of implementing the same interoperable fare media. Prasa are still exploring the business case for investing in automated fare collection and held a market engagement in 2017 to explore options.
Once again, the key challenge to ensuring interoperable fare media in Gauteng is not the technology, but rather the actual slow rollout of IPTN services together with the attendant automated fare collection systems. The intent and leadership exists, the key task at hand is to scale up and speed up the rollout of IPTN lines across the 3 metros and to speed up the Prasa modernisation programme.
Gauteng Province, supported by the Gautrain Management Agency, has done significant preparatory work on a common fare system. The challenge now is to roll out more upgraded services and to integrate their business models in order for a single fare system to follow.