The Ekurhuleni Metro finally revealed the much-anticipated brand name for its BRT system namely Harambee.
And commuters will soon be able to use Harambee to get to and from work and public facilities.
Announced at the Germiston Lake Lapa, Harambee will be the official name for the city’s BRT, equivalent to Joburg’s Rea Vaya and Tshwane’s A Re Yeng transport systems.
Harambee is a Kiswahili term meaning “working together in unity”. The name was finally chosen after months of deliberation over countless other options, Transport HOD Yolisa Mashilwane told the audience.
Present at the announcement of Ekurhuleni’s BRT system were mayor Mondli Gungubele, Gauteng Roads and Transport MEC, Ismail Vadi, Ekurhuleni Transport MMC Petrus Mhlari, and Mashilwane.
Programme director for the event was award-winning journalist Iman Rappetti.
The state-of-the-art Harambee buses, the first of which will be operational by early next year, will be universally accessible and feature bridges and lifts into the bus at busy intersections. The low-floor buses allow easy access for the elderly, infirm, disabled, people in wheelchairs, and prams.
“The significance of such a project is that it will stitch together the separate nine towns of Ekurhuleni. Public transport is important because it socially integrates people and the towns of a metro into one big city,” Vadi emphasised.
Cities are becoming more congested due to various reasons such as population growth and people buying more cars. Therefore, according to Vadi, the BRT system was the right method to try decongest the city.
“Eventually, our task is to gradually integrate all the BRT systems (Ekurhuleni, Tshwane and Johannesburg).”
Vadi also emphasized the fact that BRT also contributes to creating “green” transport, which is sustainable transportation that cares for the environment. By reducing the number of cars on the road, which the bus system does, then the emission of carbon dioxide can be decreased too.
“For example, if one bus carries about 65 people, then that’s 65 less cars on the road,” Vadi explained.
Vadi also encouraged members of taxi organisations, who were present at the launch, to allow themselves to be integrated into the new transport system, and see it as a business opportunity for them, not competition.
Vadi concluded that a decent and solid public transport system is essential in building a successful Aerotropolis.
The Ekurhuleni mayor also emphasised the importance of efficient public transportation in a city on its way to becoming an Aerotropolis and gateway to Africa and economic development.
“As a mobility based City, we concluded that we have to improve and refine connectivity though mobility to counter the effects of the ever evolving urban sprawl. This could only be done through a system which promotes multi- and inter-modality, seamless connectivity and ease of travel between destinations,” Gungubele said.
“Transportation is crafting its niche; and without working together you can’t achieve anything. If Harambee and the city’s Aerotropolis vision doesn’t help us build ourselves together as a country, nothing else can.”
For more information visit www.harambeebrt.co.za.
Harambee can also be found on social media, on Facebook as “Harambee BRT”, on Twitter as @Harambeebrt and Instagram as “harambeebrt”.
