WATCH: Ekurhuleni, are you ready for your Harambee ride?
On October 18 Ekurhuleni passengers will experience their first ride in the new Ekurhuleni Bus Rapid Transport System (BRT) Harambee bus for only R13 for a single trip.
The Ekurhuleni metro and the Ekurhuleni Taxi Industry (ETI) introduced the starter service on a portion of Harambee’s Phase 1A operations on October 13.
Invited guests at the Harambee Phase 1A launch included MEC for Roads and Transport in Gauteng Ismail Vadi, Ekurhuleni MMC for Roads and Transport Clr Petrus Mhlarhi, Members of the Mayoral Committee, delegates from the National Department of Transport and members from South Africa National Taxi Council (Santaco).
WATCH VIDEO FROM EVENT:
The Phase 1A route, which is about 38 km long, will operate between Tembisa and Isando with buses running in mixed traffic.
The service will commence at Station 7, on the corner of Andrew Mapheto Drive and George Nyanga Road (opposite Rabasotho Hall), in Tembisa and proceed along Andrew Mapheto Drive, Zuurfontein Road and Isando Road to the corner of Isando Road and Brewery Street. It will turn left into Brewery Street and travel through Isando using Anvil Street, Industrie Street, Quality Road and Diesel Street before turning from Diesel Street back onto Isando Road where it will return to Tembisa.
From Tembisa to Isando the service will be an express service. The bus will only stop at Rabasotho Hall and Birch Acres Mall in Tembisa from where the next stop will be in Plane Street in Cresslawn. Thereafter, the bus will stop at all designated stopping places along the remainder of the alignment as well as when travelling from Isando back to Tembisa.
All stops along the route will be kerbside stops.
Eight of the 40 buses which will be operational in Phase 1A are 12m long and will carry a capacity of 36 passengers, including disabled people.
The MMC for Transport Planning, Petrus Mabunda, said the buses will accommodate wheelchair space, conveniently situated in the aisle next to the doors.
“By using Harambee, passengers will be able to move with ease through the city from 5am until 7pm on weekdays with 20-minute peak-hour intervals (5am to 9am and 9pm to 7pm) and hourly intervals during off-peak hours (9am to 3pm).
The service will also be available on Saturdays from 6am to 4.30pm, with 20-minute peak-hour intervals and hourly off-peak intervals. The service will not be available on Sundays and public holidays,” Mabunda said.
Speaking at the bus launch, Vadi said: “It is good that the Harambee bus is being launched in October as we are still celebrating Transport Month. I congratulate the metro and the members of the taxi organisation for making this project come to life. Residents are not interested in our problems but they are interested in seeing services being rendered. It is a great milestone for the metro and I can’t wait to see the roll-out of the next phases.”
Harambee will be operated from a state-of-the-art traffic management centre, in Kempton Park, which will control all of Ekurhuleni’s transport services through CCTV cameras, vehicle tracking and navigation systems in the buses and at the stations.
Tickets will be sold at two Ekurhuleni branded mobile kiosks. One is situated at the Tembisa Police Station in Andrew Mapheto Drive, and the second one is on the corner of Isando Road and Kram Street in Isando. The kiosks are open from 4.30am until 7pm on weekdays and on Saturdays from 5.30am to 9pm.
Peter Mashego, from Santaco, urged community members not to burn the new buses but to respect them because they don’t belong to the municipality but to the taxi industry.
The metro urges motorists to pay careful attention when approaching traffic signal intersections along the trunk route on Zuurfontein Road as construction of various median stations and pedestrian bridges is still ongoing.
Motorists are also urged to drive within the indicated speed limit and be aware of construction vehicles travelling on the surrounding roads.
Other milestones to be reached are as follows:
– An additional 32 buses to be added to the service in February 2018.
– The introduction of an EMV based ticketing solution in February 2018.
– The first section of trunk routes and trunk stations will be operational in Phase 1A in September 2018. This will run from the Tembisa Civic Centre at Rabasotho Hall to Isando.
– An additional 16 km route and 40 more buses will be operational in April 2019 and will incorporate the section to Tembisa Hospital.
– Phase 1A is envisaged to be completed in 2020.
View gallery: https://www.citizen.co.za/boksburg-advertiser/304807/harambee-bus-launch/
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